


The Beacon Stories: Team NITE - Year 1

by OrganoidZero, Silentcelica



Series: The Beacon Stories [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Future, Gen, Humor, Post-Volume 3 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-02-01 00:00:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 63
Words: 298,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12692862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrganoidZero/pseuds/OrganoidZero, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silentcelica/pseuds/Silentcelica
Summary: Neela Xiao Long leads Team NITE nearly 20 years after the fall of Beacon as Remnant is once again thrust quickly from peace to chaos and disorder. Will she and her friends be able to stop the impending doom? The story is heavily OC based but features the regular characters frequently. Chapters will be uploaded on Saturdays.





	1. Neela (Blue Trailer)

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to welcome the new readers and old alike to a Fan-Fiction epic in the making. This is the story of an OC based team that is attending Beacon roughly 20 years after the fall. This story diverts after the end of Volume 3, the actual writing began in the middle of Volume 4 and is yet ongoing. I hope you enjoy the story and lore that OrganoidZero and I have dreamed up.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trailer for the main character: Neela Xiao Long

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a trailer for the main character Neela (Jaeger) Xiao Long. We had already written a chapter or so and a concept for a later chapter when I asked by cocreator if we should do trailers for each character. Both of us agreed that it would be a cool thing to do, and I think they turned out pretty well, especially when you consider that I wanted to present the characters without giving away too much about their pasts.

_From Shadows…_

Neela Jaeger smiled up at both of her parents as they sat around the fire, the snow slowly drifting around them as winter was coming to an end. Her mother laughed, a beautiful sound that always brought a smile to Neela's face. Her father rubbed her head, messing up her short pixie cut teal hair and she brushed it out of her face. She was full of warmth and happiness. They were safe from the humans and she exhaled a sigh, pleased with life as it was. As she inhaled the cold air assaulted her lungs, tearing through her body in a violent, ruthless manner, and she found herself gasping desperately for another breath.

Then she opened her eyes…

Panic set in as she still found herself unable to draw another breath, the winter cold burned her body as she woke up suddenly in a pile of snow. It drifted in at a steady rate through the roof of the collapsing wooden shack, battered and destroyed from the battle. Her chest heaved, eyes wide as she shifted around, unable to find a suitable position to try and stand up from. The snow was unforgiving, her body hurt, and she wondered what would be causing such pain. Maybe she would die here, just as her parents had the night before. The memories flooded back to her. They were around the fire. Everything after that was a blur.

The men came, her parents told her that they were from Atlas and that no matter what they said to try and convince her, she shouldn't go with them willingly. Her body had shaken as the men stormed in, grabbing everyone and everything in sight, and destroying it. The automatons crushed their buildings and put out their fire. They burned down the woods and took captive who they could. And who they couldn't, they killed. _The cold air battered her lungs._ They couldn't take her parents. She almost wished they had.

She remembered screaming, telling the men to let them be, that they weren't hurting anyone, but they told her that she was wrong. They told her that the White Fang had been hurting people for a long time and that they had to be stopped. Her father stepped in, fighting off some of the men, he told her and her mother to run as fast as they could. Before they had made it far though, Neela heard the gunshots, and she turned back. She had never seen her father bleed before. Yet there he was, lying on the ground, blood pouring from the multiple bullet holes in his chest. She screamed again. _She needed to find the others._

Her mother tried to pull her back, but she had managed to escape her grasp, sprinting to her father and throwing herself on top of his corpse, the blood and tears soaking her as the men turned their sights towards her. Evil men with evil faces and robots that didn't care about their lives, sent by a higher authority that didn't care whether or not they lived or died. She wept, and the weeping became sobs, and her sobs filled the forest. Her mother yelled for her again, but Neela could not hear her over the sound of her heart thrashing against her chest, wishing desperately to free itself and bring her father back somehow.

She flinched as the gunshots rang out, sure that her own end had come just as swiftly as her father's and in a small way, she was relieved to be free of her pain. _Her body would soon embrace her icy fate, and she would die._ She found comfort in the fact, though she knew that she shouldn't. She closed her eyes tight, waiting to wake up on the other side, but she had been damned by the militants once more. Her eyes opened and she watched as her mother fell, standing above her and protecting her.

"Please," Her mother's calm and loving voice came, drawing her last breath. She trembled in fear, pain, and horror. "Run." Neela found her feet, a state of shock gripped her body and she swayed slightly as she tried to take everything in, nausea rising up through her and she fell back onto her chest. Her mother's voice repeated itself without end, softly in her ear. _Please. Run._ She knew there was nothing she could do for them now, and in a sudden rush of awareness of the gravity of the situation, Neela found her feet and ran as fast as she could from the soldiers, until a rocket took the ground from beneath her, throwing her through a window and sending the debris toppling on top of her. _This was the end._

Neela tried to move her body again but found that a sizeable bit of debris was crushing her leg. It was broken to be sure, but whether or not it could be salvaged was another matter. She began to feel dizzy, her body was shivering now and she had no hope of escape or survival. The best she could hope for at this point was a quick death, and she would be returned to her mother and father. The young girl sobbed, realizing that she had nothing left and that nobody had returned to look for her. She wanted them to be wrong about the humans, but the White Fang had been right all along. Humans were not to be trusted.

"Now that Adam's dead, we should look for survivors. Over here!" Came a shout that couldn't have been more than 20 feet from the hut. In her delirious state, she thought that maybe she had imagined it and that the cold was purely toying with her before consuming what little life she had left. "What happened here?" No, it had to be real. They sounded so close and so real.

"H- H- Help m- m- me…" She called out between chattering teeth. She was weak, and it was hardly audible, but Neela found a renewed strength as thoughts and dreams filled her with hope. If she could live, perhaps she could avenge her parents, and the humans would pay once and for all. All of them.

"What did you find Yang?" Asked a second voice. They had to be real! Neela pulled at her leg, desperate to pull it out. She pulled her hand back to find it covered in blood, the wood doing more damage now by shredding her skin apart as she yanked wildly. She seethed in pain, getting her leg halfway out, relieved at the fact that it didn't look as bad as she had originally thought. She pulled herself to her feet despite the pain, her White Fang armor was destroyed, revealing her tank top beneath, which was where she was losing most of her body heat. She dragged her herself to the broken window, leaning against the wall as the pain tried to take her down.

"Help m- me." She tried again. It was just as weak as before.

"You weren't kidding, that new General has something against the White Fang," Yang replied. Pain shot up Neela's leg and she fell to the ground, deciding to try and call out once more before succumbing to her injuries. "We'll have to document everything for Ironwood and Winter, this was never supposed to happen."

"Help Me." It came out soft and quiet, and she knew that there was no way that they heard her.

"Did you hear that?" The other voice asked. Neela sat back up, her eyes wide. Somehow the other woman had heard her and was coming closer. Neela pulled herself up using the window sill and came face to face with a woman who couldn't have been any older than 22. She was human as far as Neela could tell, with black hair and yellow eyes, a large black bow rested atop her head. "Are you okay? Be careful, the glass is sharp." Neela turned away.

"You brought that army here didn't you?" she asked. Neela moved away slowly as the woman looked at her.

"No, we didn't. We tried to stop them, but by the time we got here, it was too late," the woman explained. Yang stopped next to her.

"What did you find Blake?" Yang asked. Neela looked the second one over, they were both humans. Neela tripped backward over some of the smashed wall from before that she had been trapped under as Blake attempted to make her way in.

"Stay back!" Neela yelled at her.

"I want to help," Blake explained. Neela shook her head, on the verge of tears, her lungs in massive amounts of pain from the cold air that surrounded her. Blake placed her hand against the wall and it shifted, attempting to take part of the roof with it. Yang smashed through and quickly reached her cybernetic arm up, keeping the supporting cross beam in place.

"Liar! Why would a human want to help 'filthy Faunus' like me!?" Neela screamed at them. Yang glanced back at Blake who reached up, feeling her bow. She gave a slight smile as she pulled the ribbon, revealing her ears. Neela looked up at Blake, relief sweeping over her as she tried standing. She stopped short as she looked Yang over one last time. "What about her?"

"Yang?" Blake asked. Blake looked at Yang as she held her hand out towards Neela from the opening in the wall. "What's your name?" Neela never once took her eyes off of Yang.

"Neela… Neela Jaeger, but that doesn't answer my question!" The girl yelled.

"Blake," Yang grunted. Blake looked back at Neela.

"Neela, listen! You need to come with me now! I want to help, we both do! But this building is falling and we can't help you if you're dead! Please come with me," Blake pled. Neela shook her head.

"She's not a Faunus is she?" Neela asked again.

"You're right, she's not. She's human, my wife in fact," Blake told her with a smile. Blake seemed to beam with pride and it helped soften Neela slightly, the girl's nerves relaxing as she dropped her guard. "She would never do anything to hurt you."

"Please, Neela. We don't want you to die," Yang said. Neela stared at Yang long and hard before finding her feet. Her pulse pounded in her ears, confused by what was happening. Yang had to be lying, right? They both had to be. Faunus and humans _can't_ get along. Tears filled Neela's eyes as she was overcome with confusion.

"Why do you care?" she asked them.

"So what if you have cat ears, or a tail, or maybe even fangs," Yang said still struggling with keeping the building up. "Everyone deserves to be loved the same." Neela stumbled slightly as she took a step back to find her footing. This human… was it possible that some of them could be like this? She didn't want to be scared anymore, but her parents had taught her not to trust them.

"Neela," Blake called again snapping her out of it. "We'll keep you safe." Neela looked across the hut at Blake who looked genuinely concerned, her hand still held out towards the small girl. _We'll keep you safe._ That was all she wanted at this point. Safety. Neela broke into tears as she ran through the building, not completely convinced that Yang wouldn't drop it on her and she leapt into Blake's arms as Blake swept her out. Yang gave a final shove as she dove out and it crashed down behind her.

"Where are your parents?" Yang asked as she pushed herself up out of the snow. Neela continued to cry into Blake's chest, unable to hear Yang over her wailing. Blake pulled her in closer and looked at Yang, shaking her head. Blake could tell that this girl was alone. She had been there once before herself. Neela's breathing slowed as she remembered Blake's words. _We'll keep you safe._

**6 Months Later**

Neela leaned against the door of the kitchen, doing her best to listen in on what was being said between Blake, Yang, and Taiyang, hoping that it was something a little more interesting than last time when all they talked about was Zwei, Ruby and Yang's dog that he took care of for them. Yang and Blake had bought his house after he retired and he had opted to move to a smaller place in the city of Vale. It was all pretty boring if anyone asked her. But for the last several months, Yang and Blake had been looking for someone to adopt Neela, and she crossed her fingers that perhaps that was why Taiyang had come over. Maybe he had news for them in regards to her adoption.

The idea excited her and nauseated her all at the same time. Hopefully, they were both Faunus! She tried to imagine her family, she would have a mother that was caring and stern, but more loving than anyone she had ever met before! And her father would help her train and become even stronger than she already was! They'd laugh together and they'd have fun together, and sometimes they'd probably even get in trouble with mom! Neela closed her eyes and imagined that kind of family. She gasped hard as she stepped back from the door, her body shaking.

Horror filled her, and she hoped that Taiyang hadn't found anyone to adopt her because as she closed her eyes, she saw Yang and Blake. She already had that, she already had the kind of love that she was looking for, but for some reason, it took her until this very moment to see it. She remembered when they took her back to Vale after they saved her from the building and brought her to the hospital to be taken care of. Blake hadn't left her bedside once during the week that it took her to recover, and scolded her when she tried to push herself too hard after they let her leave. They brought her back to Patch, allowing her to live with them until they found somebody else that would be able to take care of her, and in the middle of the night when she had nightmares of her parents dying, Blake would let her crawl into bed with them.

Yang had broken down her walls faster than she could believe. Neela tried for a while after they returned to the island to hate Yang, but Yang wouldn't let her. A week after they had brought her home, Yang had bought her a bow, remembering that Neela had mentioned she was practicing archery when she was still with the White Fang. It was the nicest thing that a human had ever done for her, and every day after Yang returned from being out on a mission, she would train with Neela. Neela's eyes filled with tears as she thought about having fun with Blake and Yang. That was everything. That's what she wanted forever. _After they brought me home,_ she thought. This was her home!

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Taiyang asked. It was the first thing that Neela caught as she returned to the moment and pressed against the door again.

"Yes. It's the only option we have, and it's the best one for Neela. She'll be happier this way," Yang told her father. Neela's heart stopped in her chest and she threw the door open, slamming into the kitchen.

"Neela?" Blake asked standing up from her chair. "Neela, what's wrong?"

"I don't want to leave!" Neela screamed at them. "I want to stay with you and Yang forever! This is my home, I'm at home here!" Blake walked over to Neela, kneeling on the floor as Yang joined them. Neela threw herself at Yang and sobbed. "I don't want to leave… Please let me stay!"

"Neela," Yang spoke, pulling her away from her body. She wiped the tears from Neela's eyes and looked into them. "What did you hear?"

"You told Taiyang that it was the only option and that I'd be happier," Neela managed between catching her breath. Blake smiled as tears filled her eyes and it filled Neela with a momentary confusion.

"Neela, I'm going to give up being a Huntress so that I can be with you during the day and you won't have to keep juggling between Tai watching you when we both work. We want you to have a safe place to come home to. Yang and I don't want you to leave either, we want you to stay with us. You make both of us very happy, and we want nothing more than for you to become our daughter," Blake told her. Neela gasped and smiled, sobbing again, but this time they were tears of joy as she threw her arms over both of them. These _were_ her parents, she saw that now and she loved them as much as she had her birth parents. She was filled with a warmth that she hadn't known since that night when she sat around the fire with her mother and father, only now she had new parents, and they were just as amazing as the ones she had before. She'd grow with Blake and Yang, but she'd never forget her mom and dad. "Come on. I have something to show you."

"What?" Neela asked as Blake picked her up and carried her towards the spare bedroom.

"We know you like staying in the treehouse because it feels like you're back at the camp, I can relate. But it'll start getting cold again soon and we figured you might want to stay where it's a bit warmer," Blake explained. They opened the door, a small bed sat along one wall, posters of Grimm covering the ceiling. Her bow and quiver sat on top of a short dresser across the room.

"Is this?" Neela asked, a hesitation and excitement in her voice.

"Yes Neela," Yang replied from behind them. "Your very own room."

" I have my own room!?" Neela had asked, she looked up at Blake with a twinkle in her hawk eyes, they were wide and filled with wonder.

"This room is just for you Neela. No more tents. No more hiding. No more running. This is the place you can go to feel safe. This is where you'll stay Neela. We love you." Neela looked at Yang and then back at Blake, tears streaming down her face as she grabbed both of them and held them close. This was Neela's family. She was a Xiao Long now, and it made her happier than she had ever been. This was what love was supposed to feel like, and Neela liked the feeling a lot.

"I love you too!" She yelled out. It was the first time she had ever told them that.

She would never stop telling them that.

… _With a Touch of my Hand, I'll Turn Your Life to Gold._

**This is where Neela's story begins…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said before, I hope that you all enjoyed the first trailer. We'll see you back here next week for the second trailer - Ilia.
> 
> Neela Xiao Long - Dishwasher 1910  
> 
> 
> Neela Xiao Long - Y8ay8a  
> 
> 
> Neela's Weapon - Diyaru4500  
> 
> 
> Neela Being Rescued - Lightning-in-my-Hand  
> 


	2. Ilia (Black Trailer)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trailer for our second character, Ilia Cherny!

The train horn sounded as they left another station and she knew now that it wouldn't be much longer until she reached her destination. Somewhere that she would be able to start a new life and leave everything behind. She had long black boots that came up knee high and complemented her hip hugging black denim jeans. They were a tight fit but she hoped that it would draw attention away from her facial features, in case they had noticed she was gone and had decided to come for her. She made herself comfortable in the corner of her seat against the window and undid the top button of her black jacket, enough to let the girls breathe a little, and enough to distract any would be followers even more. She looked down at her hands that were wrapped in tape.

How had it gotten to this point? Why had she let it go so far? Her only options now were to keep running, or go back and face what she had coming to her. The problem was, both options frightened her. She brushed her long black hair out of her face for a moment, the light dancing off of her blue eyes as she peered down at her scroll. She plugged in her headphones and leaned against the window of the bullet train. She hated dressing like this, incognito. She had little other options if she was going to stay hidden though. She squirmed slightly and gave out a helpless groan. So damn restricting! She was broken out of her haphazard attempt to find just the right position by a man who looked to be in his late 20's, staring down at her from the main aisle.

"I'm sorry miss, but I was struck by your beauty and wondered if I might be permitted to sit beside you," he stated. His baby blue eyes and short messy orange hair caught her off guard and she wondered what he really intended. Nobody talked like that. Not anyone that she had ever met. He smiled, awaiting a response and she felt herself drawn in even more. She brushed her hair out of her face again and he raised an eyebrow. "Your eyes are more beautiful than I could have imagined." She offered a fake smile, not completely trusting him and nodded.

"You may sit next to me," She told him. He nodded back in approval and sat beside her on her right, holding a stack of books in his hands and sliding over more towards the middle rather than staying on his side.

"My name's Forrest. What's yours?" She looked at him, her face free from expression.

"Ilia. Ilia Cherny." He set his stack of books on the floor and removed something from his pocket, pressing it hard against her side. Her eyes glanced down to see a small pistol being shoved against her stomach.

"As you might have guessed by now 'Ilia', I'm with the Vacuo Military, and you are going to be getting off with me at the next stop. We're then gonna take a nice ride back to Vacuo, and you can tell the authorities all about what you did." She started to chuckle, her face dark as a wryly smile crept across her face. She stared at the floor in front of her, her laughter growing louder. "What's so funny?" She slowly lifted her right hand and unwrapped the tape, holding the end in her teeth.

"Tell me Forest, if that is your real name…" She gave a yank and the tape unraveled completely. She quickly reached up and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him close. "Did they tell you what I did?" His hand gripping the gun shook slightly and he swallowed hard, shaking his head.

"That's classified. Field agents in Vacuo aren't allowed to be given such information." She smiled and tossed her head to the left, clearing the hair from her face again. She let go of his neck and grabbed the tape from her mouth, pulling her hair into a long ponytail and tying it off.

"I guess you have me then. I have no choice but to return with you," She told him. She stood and walked past him into the aisle. She unwrapped her left hand out of his line of sight and he followed after her. "I think we can probably just arrange for the train to be stopped now, don't you think? Seeing as I'm a wanted fugitive and all, and in a few minutes we'll be in the Kingdom of Vale, which is outside of your jurisdiction." She stopped short of the first car and turned into the bathroom. "I don't suppose you'd allow me to use the restroom real quick, would you?" He shrugged.

"Whatever." She entered into the bathroom and closed the door, holding the tape tight in her hands. She opened the window slowly.

"I just have one question," she told him as she slowly unlocked the door.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Did you really expect that flirting nonsense to work on me?" She threw the door open and threw her hands over him, strangling him with the tape. He struggled, but the bathroom was raised slightly higher than the rest of the train and she had enough height. She noted three men that stood quickly, wearing street clothes to blend in, and she quickly threw her left arm around his neck, lowering her right arm. A blade slid out from the sleeve, under her hand, and extended out 2 feet past her hand. She slammed the blade into Forest's back and held him tight as the other men watched. He grunted out in pain.

"Did you think that would kill me?" He asked struggling.. She retracted the blade and placed her right hand on the side of his face.

"You're no good to me dead." He grunted in pain as she disappeared and the men glanced around in confusion for a moment, not sure where she had gone.

"Where'd she go?!" One of them demanded. Forest turned to the bathroom and looked in, noting that the window was open.

"She must have gone out the window!" He shouted. He pointed to the man nearest to him. "Tell the conductor to stop this train and get these civilians out!" The agent nodded and took off as Forest surveyed the train. "Seven men with myself included. And they brought heavy artillery."

"What was that?" asked one of the agents. Forest gave a disheveled grin and lifted his gun. That was her semblance. She could inhabit bodies for a short period of time.

"This is gonna hurt both of you more than it will me," he said and placed a bullet in both of their foreheads without blinking. The body fell to the floor and Ilia stood above it, cracking her neck. "Damn, that didn't last nearly long enough." Panic broke out and someone pulled the emergency break, throwing Ilia into the seats in front of her without warning. She caught herself before she could hit the seats and the doors slid open violently, people pouring out past her and into the countryside. They weren't close enough to Vale yet.

She pulled her hair back out of a ponytail and rushed out with the mass, hoping they could conceal her long enough to distance herself from the last four men and their Hercules. The Atlas military had decided to name their military units after things from medieval times. Vacuo had gone the route of naming their toys after lore. Hades was loaded with Fire Dust. Zeus was loaded with Lightning Dust. Hercules was Gravity, and believed to be the most dangerous.

Ilia continued running with the group until they slowly began to scatter in different directions, discussing what had happened and calling loved ones, taking pictures and videos with their scrolls. She stepped away from them and slowly continued along the tracks towards Vale, hoping that she could get far enough away that she could run the rest of the way and be free. All she needed to do was to get to Vale and lay low.

"There she is!" Someone yelled behind her and she took off sprinting along the railroad tracks. There were no trees or woods nearby to conceal her and the fastest way for her to enter Vale was to follow the tracks. She made it half a mile without them gaining any ground when she spotted it. The Hercules, waiting in the middle of the tracks for her.

"I think it's time that you came with us," he told her. The armor was far less grandiose than that of an Atlas Paladin. Instead it was a hydraulic exosuit that's worn by a soldier and powered by a specific dust type. She stopped short of him, leaving 75 or more feet between them. She reached up, unzipping her jacket and throwing it to the ground, revealing her black tank top beneath it and two SMGs attached to the bottom of her arms like tonfas. The blade that she had used before was attached to the side and could be extended by a flick of either wrist, seeing as each gun had a blade.

"I appreciate the offer, but I have to decline," she called out to the soldier.

"You can't win here. We have at least four men and one Hercules." He called back as they came closed. The Hercules remained still, watching her. She couldn't entirely make it out, but she knew he wore a crooked grin under the suit's mask. She knew if she reached for what was left of her dust now, the Hercules would tip them off. "Our employer has also informed us that he wants you brought back unharmed, but that we're to execute you if need be." She shook her head. So that was his game? But it didn't make sense that he'd be so reckless. Surely he would have told them it wouldn't be that easy. She slowly raised her hands above her head.

"I suppose the first agent underestimated me, but the rest of you can't be that stupid also, right?" She asked.

"Drop the weapons!" He called out. She looked back over her shoulder as the men reached her.

"Funny thing. They're a little hard to reach and unfasten on my own. If two of you wouldn't mind helping while the other two make sure I don't try anything funny?" She asked. She fumbled with the straps near her elbows but gave up. Two men stood next to her, ready to remove the weapons and the other two stood behind her, watching. "Like what you see? I'll have you all know that I'm only 17."

"No one was thinking…" She slid to her right, her elbow slamming into the man's jaw and she rolled past his body, placing him between her and the other three guards. She grabbed him from behind and used him as a meat shield, right gun firmly against his temple.

"The rest of you were that stupid!" She exclaimed.

"Don't shoot him!" One of them demanded. She shrugged. She quickly grabbed the other side of his head and held it in place and with a flex of her wrist the blade slammed into his head and they opened fire, shredding his body. She ran forward into the three, tossing the body at the man on her right, and shooting the one on her far left as she quickly batted the gun from the man beside him, running her blade through his neck. She back flipped to the last agent, trying with her right elbow and then her left to hit him, but he batted her elbows away and attempted to open fire. She dove forward and the first body exploded, dissolving instantly. The explosion itself threw the man off of his feet and burned him as he landed yards away from Ilia.

"How did you do that?" He asked her. She smirked as she found her feet and walked to him.

"During the chaos of elbowing your man in the face, I managed to remove a hand full of fire Dust from my side pouch here," She told him gesturing towards it. "Hard to make out against the black jeans. When I threw him at you I slammed it against his body and knew that it would only take a moment or two for the lack of stability in the Dust to react accordingly." She knelt beside him and ran her blade through his neck.

"I won't be that easy," said a voice from behind her. She turned to face the Hercules and his fist slammed into her chest, purple sparks scattering as he made contact and she slammed into the ground, sliding away. She looked up to see him sprinting right for her, the sparks of Dust particles scattering away as he pushed the suit to move faster. She fired several shots that ricochet with little to no effect off of the armor. He reached her and she batted his fist away this time with her blades. He reached back around quickly, throwing her into the air and nailing her with a gravity shot, sending her high into the sky.

I can't let you tell anyone what you know. You will never leave this place. She didn't want to go back. She sooner die than let them take her back. She came back as her body was nearing the end of its flight and landed on her feet, stabilizing herself. She quickly loaded dust into her guns and dove out of the way of a gravity shot, knowing that the chances of her plan working weren't 100%, but it was the best she could do for now. He ran at her again and she opened fire, barraging him with ice rounds that cooled and slowed the hydraulics. She continued firing as she bridged the gap, both of them slowly closing it as he tried to resist completely stopping. She reached him and knew she only had one chance. She pried open his helmet using her blade and kissed him hard and long on the lips, shocking him, but it was enough facial contact to let her in and she took over his body. She broke free of the ice and sprinted for the border of Vale, she could see the fence and the sign along a heavy tree line, where Vale's woods began. She was almost free to start over.

"Stop!" Came a shout, and a firm fist to the gut threw her from the soldier's body, killing him and destroying the suit in the process. Another Hercules. She wasn't all that surprised as she was well aware of the fact that Vacuo Agents were never allowed to be aware of every unit in the field. She wasn't going to be stopped, not when freedom was so close. She sprinted for him, taking him off guard. She reached him before he was able to react and nailed him several times in the gut, ducking under a sweep of his left arm, and continuing her barrage. She used what was left of her ice dust to slow him and took off for the fence, running as fast as her legs would take her before the gravity shot slammed into her as she had hoped. She slammed through the treetops before landing on the other side, quickly finding her feet and rushing through the woods. She had made it.

"Sorry! It looks like you'll have to leave it to the authorities in Vale now!" She called back to him smiling. She was free and they would never get her to go back.

* * *

 

Yes?

"Mr. Temnota? I wasn't expecting to talk to you personally sir! My apologizes! I expected someone else was going to call and relay the message to you."

And what might that message be?

"She escaped sir. An hour ago. We did everything that we could to stop her. The last two Hercules even tried to kill her. She made it to Vale." Silence filled the phone.

So you failed?

"Yes… Yes sir." A gunshot rang out and Strakh was sure that the sniper had killed the soldier. Strakh Temnota hung up the phone as his assistant shook his head from across the room.

"What now Strakh? The girl is stronger than we originally believed." The assistant asked.

"I'm sure that He already knows, but let's keep this to ourselves if He doesn't already."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two down! Two to go! Join us next week for our this character trailer - Titus!
> 
> Sorry if anything uploads funny, I'm in line at Daisho Con for Kara Eberle's autograph and my phone doesn't work the best for this.
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	3. Titus (Green Trailer)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trailer for the third character of Team NITE - Titus Prasinos!

Sweat rolled down his temple as he stood tall, chest stuck out, watching as the last soldier fell to the ground. He had made quick work of them and wondered if _they_ even had anything that would pose a challenge to him. He smirked on one side of his mouth, reaching up to wipe his brow with his sleeve. He wore a White Atlas Military jacket, the same that officers wore, and had a slightly battered white and purple cape that was held together with a golden broach of a gargoyle's head that clasped together at his neck. He had dark green hair that was slicked back, giving it a certain sheen, and the moonlight intensified his red eyes. He cracked his neck to each side as he made a slow circle, spinning in place and peering out into the forest around him. He knew they'd send the next wave any moment now, but damn it was cold!

"Is that all? I thought that this was supposed to be my final test before I enrolled at the academy?" He called out into the darkness. He slowly unsheathed his weapons, two kopides with Dust-coated blades, a gift from the Atlas army before he began his real training. They only contained gravity dust for the time being, but he knew with some slight alterations he'd be able to use multiple Dusts. "I dispatched 15 of your men with only my hands. Granted, I do have incredible strength, but 15 is just abnormal." Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted one to his right. He quickly spun to face it and deflected the storm of bullets, running to it quickly before slicing it in half with one mighty swing. He turned back the other direction. Here they came…

Titus Prasinos had only been 8 years old when he had dedicated his life to protecting his family and the rest of Remnant. He had trained hard for 9 years, now on the cusp of joining the ranks of the Atlas Academy and truly making a difference for the good of all. As had always been the case, students that hoped to join the Academy had to pass one last test, their entrance exam of sorts, in order to be allowed into the prestigious school. It was an upbringing that one could be proud of. It was something to brag about even, but Titus had never been one for bragging. He knew he was good, but he never assumed that he was better than his opponent. It made a huntsman careless, and he couldn't afford to be. He had never fought harder for anything.

He watched as the Knights slowly came closer, their guns trained on him the entire time. His legs were slightly bent, he could rush to them if need be and dispatch them. As he examined them his fingers lightly caressed the trigger on each kopis. By pulling the trigger, the dust in the blade would activate, and there was almost no limit to what he could do with it. Still, they came, not yet attacking, both sides trying to pick the others mind. Slowly Titus brought the blades up in front of him and crossed them, lightly resting them against each other. One more step was all he needed and the Knight gave it to him, unaware of the mistake it had made. He made his move.

Three of them were close enough and when he squeezed the triggers and crashed the blades off of each other a shockwave of gravity tore through the air and threw the robots onto their backs. He held both of his blades vertical, quickly letting go and flipping his hands over so that the blades faced the bottom of his fists. He turned his hands back over and slammed the blades into the ground, a tidal wave of earth racing in every direction from him and crushing the knights. Another group of Knights opened fire behind him. He alternated swinging his blades, using the gravity to block the bullets as he slowly made his way towards the bots, slicing through them as he reached them. He stayed where he was for a moment, one knee to the ground and arms extended. He couldn't hear any more of them coming, but it was underwhelming. They had told him that this test would push him…

From out of nowhere, he was batted into the woods by a Paladin and he slid through the snow, rolling in an active attempt to find his feet, but with no luck. He finally came to a stop and pulled himself up with his kopides, looking at the large mech. Now this, was a challenge. He smirked again and spun his blades slightly, watching to see how the bot would attack. Tactics and foresight would play a huge role here and he intended to win with flying colors. He had to. It wasn't that he wanted to be the best. He felt deep down that he _needed_ to be the best. This Paladin was not going to be enough to stand in his way. It moved quickly and fired several rockets that Titus rolled out of the way of, strafing in a wide arc to this right and slicing at more incoming projectiles. His finger slipped off of the trigger momentarily as he had taken off, and the missile slammed into his blade instead of being deflected. His body was thrown violently into a tree and he hit the ground hard.

How could he have let that happen? A mild panic set in as he struggled for a moment, dazed by the thought of there being such a wide gap in his defense. The Paladin was sprinting right for him and he leapt up, slicing through the tree before diving out of the way. The tree fell over on top of the robot, not enough to crush it, but enough to slow it down for a moment and allow Titus to put distance between the two of them. He found the middle of the clearing again and his chest heaved, trying to find his breath as his mind raced. He needed to calm down and focus, one blow wasn't the end of the match. He could do this. He noted the small drone robot that levitated just above him and it flew further up into the sky. He gritted his teeth.

So they _were_ watching him. He grinned and set his feet again as the mech spotted him. He hoped that they had been. The Paladin and Titus sprinted for each other and he slid through its legs, slicing out wide with both blades and taking some of its armor off. He crossed his blades in front of him and fired, the force of the gravity Dust enough to stop him instantly and he dashed back in the other direction. The Paladin hadn't had time to turn around and as it did Titus had thrown himself into the air and his blade was coming down. It sliced through the cockpit and split the cabin in two, revealing the pilot inside. As he fell back down the mech balled its fists together and slammed Titus to the ground. It quivered as he met the earth, something was pushing back against it. Beneath the bot's hands was Titus, blades crossed above him as he pushed back, body shaking.

He wasn't sure if he could last much longer and he grunted, his body wanting to give. He closed his eyes and his mind drifted back to home. He and his two sisters would sit on the floor in their small hut, huddled around their mother. She gave them a warm smile and they'd all eat their bread in the quiet. Father was always gone late before his younger sister was born, and wasn't around much, but mother had always told them he was trying to make a better life for them. How could she be so happy, when life had stacked the deck against them? The memory faded and he could hear her voice filling his mind and heart. _I know you'll be the best Titus. I know because you're my child, and that alone makes you the best to me._ His eyes opened suddenly and he shouted out, throwing the mech back and running for its torso. He climbed it quickly using his blades and threw the pilot out.

He slammed his blade into the console and pulled the trigger, the shockwave of gravity energy coursing through the armor and shattering it, throwing metal and other debris everywhere. He rode the collapsing suit to the ground, letting it scatter behind him. He was convinced that was it, and he was quite satisfied with himself. He wasn't the best yet, but he would be…

* * *

"I have to say, that was far more impressive than you explained over the phone Winter," Weiss told her sister as she watched Titus surveying the battleground on the monitor before them.

"He's the best I've ever trained," Winter replied as she sat down. She didn't want to admit it, but the end of the battle had made her just a touch nervous for him. For 5 years she had been pouring everything she had into this child, from knowledge to skills, to advanced techniques, everything! She had vested so much in him because she had seen so much potential.

"Winter," Weiss said as she sipped her coffee and placed it back on the table. "Please don't tell me that you intend to place him in the Academy." Winter looked at Weiss, her head slightly tilted.

"Why not?" Winter asked.

"You of all people should know that it's an unforgiving and tight-lipped kind of place. I'm not saying that it's bad for everyone, but just from seeing how he fights, I almost think he'd be better off somewhere else," Weiss explained to her sister. Winter chuckled lightly.

"Oh?"

"I might not be the Headmistress of Beacon, but I like to try and assure its future as a school that puts forth the best of the best. One that hosts only the best students. Students with dignity, grace, poise…"

"… Like your wife?" Weiss flushed and smiled, lightly twirling her hair around her finger.

"With the… exception of Ruby, most of my classmates would have fallen into the majority of those categories, and as the sole proprietor of the rebuilding of the school, I'd like to see Titus enrolled at Beacon." Weiss stood slowly and motioned to one of the men at the door. He quickly moved to her and she whispered something in his ear. He gave her a confused look and she nodded. He left the room without a moment of hesitation and Winter also stood now, joining her sister by the door. "I think that's where you'd like to see him too." Winter bit her bottom lip slightly and shrugged.

"I don't know Weiss," Winter replied. "I don't want him to end up callous like all of the other Atlas graduates, but Beacon?"

"Where else would you have him go?" Weiss smiled and shook her sister playfully by the shoulders. "Not to mention, Team RWBY saved the world and they came from Beacon. I hear that they are kind of a big deal." Winter offered her a slight smile and turned back to the screen as a thunderous noise filled the speakers in the room. She watched as Titus turned around towards the direction of the drone and looked up towards the sky.

"Well. You look like a handful." He said to it. Winter turned to Weiss.

"Weiss, you didn't!" Winter exclaimed. Weiss laughed, sitting back down.

"You said that he's the best. I wanted to see if it was true." She replied.

"Weiss, you're the youngest person ever to beat the Giant Armor! Doesn't this seem a bit… challenging for someone his age?" Weiss shook her head.

"You don't have faith in him?" Winter looked at Weiss and then the monitor.

"I do, it's just a lot to ask of anyone to fight it alone." Weiss gave a warm smile to her sister.

"He'll be fine. Perhaps I'll get to see this special semblance you were talking about after all."

* * *

Well, this should be fun," Titus said to the Armor as it stopped in front of him, sword lifted high into the air. He wondered if this was finally the last test, or if there would be more. He glanced up at the drone quickly and unsheathed his kopides once more. "Come on then. Let's go." Titus reached up and undid the clasp, letting his cape fall to the ground. The Armor swung his sword and it met Titus's blades. He stood his ground and the two struggled against each other's force. The armor wound up again and Titus came in for an attack, only to be swept away by the Armor's free hand. Titus hit the ground but quickly found his feet and took off in a flurry for the Armor. It swung around, trying to bat Titus away with its sword, but Titus met the blade with his own and activated the gravity dust. The force was enough to cause the Giant Armor to stumble and Titus slid in for another attack as he blasted himself into the air. His blades clashed with the giant sword again as the moon shone on them both. He was in for a long battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three trailers down and one left to go before we get to the story itself. You've met Neela the hunter, Ilia the criminal, Titus the militant and next week you'll meet our last member, Eliana the free spirit! I hope that you all enjoyed and stay classy!
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> AN: Below is an image of Titus, however, when the when Dishwasher drew the commission, both myself and OrganoidZero forgot to tell him that he was supposed to be muscular and he ended up looking more like an evil scientist. Yaya's is much better.
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> Titus's Kopides:
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	4. Eliana (Purple Trailer)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trailer for our fourth and final lead character - Eliana Latherus!

Paranoia started to set in as Orion ran across the rooftop, sure that he had heard another set of footsteps somewhere close behind him. He hadn't made it more than a few blocks when he had been stopped by a cop, asking him if he knew anything about the Dust robbery that had just occurred in the direction he had come from. After patting him down they found enough lien on him to make a convincing case and he took off, distracting them momentarily with his semblance. The roofs seemed like his best option to stay out of sight, but now he was more than convinced that he had somehow been followed. He reached the edge of his escape route and stopped, bouncing lightly on his feet and spinning around to face his assailant. There was no one there.

"What are you waiting for? An open invitation?!" He called out into the darkness. No answer. He peered across the roof, still convinced that someone was watching him, not letting his guard down for even a moment. He smiled to himself, reaching onto his back and removed a black kite shield with 5 yellow stars on it in the shape of a cross. It had been mounted magnetically to his back. Underneath there was a large, steel gauntlet attached, which he pulled onto his right hand. It covered from his fingers to his elbow, looking similar to what a medieval knight might wear. "If you were planning on an attack, you waited too long!"

The moonlight glinted off of his bronze colored eyes, and his black hair was a touch shorter than shoulder length, blowing slightly in the cool summer breeze. He had nothing on his torso, with the exception of leather straps that met and crossed in the middle of his chest, their only purpose was holding the magnet on his back. He had a black tattoo across his chest that was an emblem familiar to the people of Vale. He was in Mercury Black's gang, which had formed in the aftermath of Cinder's destruction, and the emblem was Mercury's, a boot with wings. On his left shoulder blade, a black tattoo of his own emblem, the stars shaped like a cross. His chest was mostly scarred from many close encounters with law enforcement and huntsmen. He wore black track pants and sneakers that matched.

"I saw what you did back there to those cops," a voice spoke from the dark. He chuckled.

"None of them were hurt. A blinding, concussive blast isn't really anything to get that upset about, is it?" He asked. "All that my boss was looking for was a little lien, and maybe some Dust, but none of that really concerns you, so why don't you run along, hm?"

"My father was a cop," the voice spoke again. This gave Orion enough time to determine that his stalker was a woman, and she sounded young at that. "He believed that men like you should be locked up. Sure, what you did back there wasn't  _that_  big of a deal, but it was still breaking the law no less. Robbery  _and_  resisting arrest? Tsk tsk. See, that's why it's my concern."

"Heh." Orion reached out, a small ball of light appearing in the middle of the roof, which lit the entire block. "You in my head girly? If I had to guess, I'd take a stab at the fact that you're a huntress. Now, don't you have bigger fish to fry? I hear things are looking rather grim on the south side of Vale, pardon the pun. Were you just wandering around the shopping district looking for petty crimes to stop?" He slowly walked towards the floating light, gripping his shield and preparing to be attacked at any moment.

"You're probably right," she admitted. "I could be somewhere else, taking care of things that the cops can't, but you seem pretty capable of outrunning them, and my father always told me that no matter how small the action, there would always be a reaction. That's just the way it works." Orion stood in the middle of the roof now, she had made the mistake of talking too much, and now had a good idea of where the voice was coming from. He grabbed the light with his gauntlet and it absorbed into the glove as he chuckled again, plunging himself into darkness once more.

"You'll have to do better than psyching me out from the fire escape!" He shouted. He thrust his hand forward, light energy blasting forth from it, slamming into the edge of the roof and destroying a good portion. The debris fell to the ground, he could hear it crashing off of the metal grates and ladders on the side of the building. That was it, she had to have been there. He walked towards the mark, making sure that she was dead. "I respect your efforts, they were most impressive. However, amateur little girls should not be trying to take on professionals…" He stopped short as he reached his destination. He peered down, unable to spot a body in the twisted metal and rubble that lay on the ground far below. "… Such as myself."

"Is that so?" He felt her breath on his neck. He activated his gauntlet. In addition to being used with his semblance, it had been designed with Dust combat in mind, the metal itself an alloy of steel and gravity Dust combined. The shock wave threw her away from him and he turned quickly to face her, her bullets ricocheting off of his shield.

"Finally she appears. Is there any chance that I could get your name? I like to know the names of my victims before I put an end to them," he told her. She smiled at him as she found her feet. She wore a dark pair of cargos and a plain black track jacket. Her hair was purple and a little longer than shoulder length, which was hard to make out in the moonlight, which glanced off of her green eyes. "Did you pick that outfit up at Stealth Wear for Beginners?"

"Elli. Eliana Latherus." She extended her hand, as though she were expecting a handshake. "Nice to meet you. I don't usually give my name out to strangers, but I like the criminals to know my name  _before_  I kick their asses, it makes it feel more personal." The two of them smiled at each other. Though they both fully intended to win, there was a strange yet mutual respect between them already.

"If you're finished with your pep talk…" He began giving her a slight bow "Shall we?" She nodded as she took a step back. She removed both of her pistols, gripping them lightly as they both waited for the other to make a move. He reached out with his glove, strands of barely visible gravity Dust flew towards Eliana, grabbing her and pulling her towards him. She thought quickly, she had taught herself to stay sharp in the heat of battle. His hand darted out to grab her and she ducked to the left, slamming her body against his shield. She wrapped her right arm around the edge of the shield, firing three quick earth Dust shots at his arm, coating it in stone and causing it to drop, the bottom of the kite slamming against the ground. She rebounded off, avoiding his attempt to grapple her arm, and he turned to look at the stone.

"You move pretty quick," He told her. He smashed the rock with his glove, lifting his shield again and charging for her. She leapt out of the way, not needing to waste her semblance on an empty attack. He turned towards her as he passed her, switching the shield to his right hand, and channeling the gravity through it. It blasted out in a shockwave, the arc too wide for Eliana to avoid, and she was thrown across the roof. She came to a stop and regained balance as he reached her, the shield slamming into her stomach and tossing her across an alleyway, on top of the next building over. He moved his shield back to his left hand again. "Not quick enough though."

"We'll see about that," she called out. A light formed in his hand and the glove absorbed it as he fired at her. She managed to dodge it with no problem, staying ahead of it as he followed her across the rooftop. She leapt back across towards him, quickly changing her magazine and firing wind Dust at him and forcing him to hold his ground by blocking his body and in turn, his line of sight. She loaded another magazine into the pistol in her left hand, choosing fire Dust and taking a few shots. They slammed off of his defenses, the last one finally forcing him to establish a footing. She took the opening, selecting gravity Dust and sending him sliding towards the edge of the rooftop. He was impressed.

"I have to admit, no one has put up this much of a fight in a while," he told her. A flurry of regular ammo ricochet and exploded off of his barrier. "I might let you live just so we can do this again some time." He placed his glove against the roof, sending a quake through the building, forcing Eliana to stumble, in just a few more feet she could have gotten in and finished him off with ice Dust, keeping him there until the police arrived. An orb of light sparked beside her, growing slowly until it was close in size to a baseball. It exploded and Eliana activated her semblance, creating a force field between her and the light. He stood there in shock for a moment, gifting her a new opening and she froze him in place.

"I'm sorry, what was that said before about me being an amateur?" she asked. He activated his gauntlet again, shattering the ice and allowing him to free himself.

"It's a shame that I don't have some more time tonight to enjoy myself," he told her as he walked slowly towards her. She kept her guns trained on him the entire time as he stopped a few feet from her. "Maybe we could have had dinner back at the station."

"You might want to step back from her," a voice came from the opposite side of the building. He stood slowly, stretching and cracking his back as he turned to face the challenger. "Elli, what happened to shopping?"

"Sorry Neela, I had a run in with this guy. He was robbing a dust shop, but I thought I'd say hi," she replied. He glanced at the two of them.

"Neela?" He inquired. "Neela Xiao Long?" She remained unwavering, holding her sword before her with two hands. "You are, aren't you? This night can't possibly get any better! Tell mom Mercury says hello, and no hard feelings. I almost regret having to kill you, but with being a child of Team RWBY members and what not, you had to expect this to happen eventually. You've earned quite the reputation for a huntress that I'm guessing isn't even attending Beacon yet."

He held his shield back towards Eliana knowing that she'd try to make a cheap shot on him, and he couldn't afford being taken down like that. This was the break he had been needing to be noticed by Mercury. Neela's sword formed into a bow, and she padded something into the electronic device on her left forearm and reached back for an arrow. He sneered, knowing that the arrow couldn't possibly reach him due to his use of gravity Dust.

"If you stand down now, I won't have to hurt you," Neela reassured him. He frowned.

"Thanks, but no thanks." She was quick, and she loaded a gravity arrow, firing the first with another close behind. He threw his hand up towards Neela, and wave of gravity energy moving out to block the arrows. The first activated, meeting the wall of Dust quickly and failing to pierce through, but providing a momentary pocket for the second to sneak by. His eyes became wide for a moment and he snatched the arrow out of the air, breaking it in half with his grip. This left him open to attack for a moment as his glove was occupied and she fired three more at the same time. He wouldn't be able to grab all three, and he swung his shield around, blocking the arrows as Eliana shot him with fire Dust, sending him tumbling forward towards a charging Neela. Her bow flipped back into a sword, crashing against his shield as she reached him.

He trembled against the force of her sword pushing back against his shield. She had tremendous strength, and he hadn't anticipated for such a thing. He grunted as he struggled.

"What's the matter? Never fought a girl like me before?" Neela asked him. She smirked as she pushed even harder, his feet sliding back. Something hit his back, what he assumed to be a shot from Eliana, and he pulled her towards them with his gravity Dust, launching her past and sending her flailing towards the edge. She stopped herself short with a forcefield. One of his light orbs appeared in his hand, and he threw it at her, watching as it crashed into her arm and exploded, jerking her back. Neela turned her attention to the side to check on Eliana. Orion took advantage of the distraction and shoved Neela onto her butt, taking off for the edge of the building.

"Well ladies, it has been one hell of a night, but I think it's probably past both of your bedtimes, and I have to get this lien back to my employer," He told them. He leapt off of the edge, his body turning into a ball of light and falling to the ground, before turning back into his human form. He looked up at them, nodding before sprinting down the road.

"Well, that happened," Eliana said as she moved over to Neela and helped her stand. "How did you know I was up here?"

"You weren't at the meeting spot when I showed up for us to go shopping," Neela told her. "Finding you wasn't that hard. I'm a tracker, it's what I do."

"Still want to go shopping?" Eliana asked. Neela rolled her eyes and cocked her hip.

"Does a Grimm dissolve when you kill it?" She asked. She walked to the edge of the roof, setting her grapple hook and grabbing Eliana by the waist, slowly scaling down the building with her.

"Yes…?" Eliana replied.

"Of course I still want to go shopping!" Neela exclaimed. Eliana smiled and nodded her head.

"Okay, good! Awesome!" Eliana replied. Neela retracted her hook and they slowly made their way back to the shopping district. "First we need to stop by the police if they're still at that Dust shop. That last shot that I hit him with was a tracer. I'll give the receiver to the cops and they can take it from there." Neela smiled back at Eliana.

"Nice, quick thinking Elli! Let's make it fast though. Tomorrow is our first day at Beacon, and if we're late getting home, our moms are going to kill us." Eliana nodded in agreement and stopped for a moment to look up at the shattered moon.  _This one's for you dad._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus concludes our character trailers! Sorry for the late upload, I ended up busy this morning and wasn't able to upload until now. Hopefully, you've enjoyed this so far and I'll see you all next week for the upload of the first chapter - Morning!
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> AN: The plan was to have Dishwasher draw Eliana but since being hired as a concept artist for Rooster Teeth, he hasn't drawn any commissions. Y8ay8a was commissioned for the official concept art instead.
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> Eliana Latherus Concept Art by Y8ay8a  
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> Until next week, stay classy!
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> Eliana's Weapons - Diyaru4500:  
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	5. Morning!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neela prepares to head off to Beacon and takes a moment to reflect on her life so far!

Morning. Neela peered out as her feet lightly met the dirt path and she stopped for a moment, taking in the beauty that the morning had to offer her. The sun had just broken the threshold, perched upon the horizon much like a bird singing on a branch, ushering in the dawn of a new day. The sunlight slowly crept through the woods, beams of light gently brushing past the tree line to greet both Neela and the morning dew, left on the grass from the cool evening that had graced Patch the night before. Neela found herself in a momentary awe, struck by something so simple, yet it gave her pause. She took a long moment, syncopating her breathing to match her hunting instincts and movements.

She wore a dark teal leather armor set, which only covered her torso and included a hood that she only normally wore up when she was out hunting, blinding most of her peripheral vision and allowing her to better focus on her target. She wore black spandex sleeves on both arms that were complemented with light Atlesian metal shoulder pads and forearm guards, the left included a touch screen interface that allowed Neela to choose what Dust the arrow was coated with when she removed it from her quiver, and the right had controls for her grappling hook. A small brown pouch on her right hip contained her specialized arrow tips. Her short skirt matched the leather in color, paired with black leggings, and then boots that corresponded with the teal. Her reverse bob cut hair was a slightly lighter shade of the same color that her outfit was, with three braids close to her left ear. Her eyes were her one Faunus feature, amber.

It had been a long time since Neela had needed to be up early enough to greet the day like this. It was back in a darker time in her life when she was told, no, when she was _coerced_ into thinking that all humans were the same and that all that they cared for was the destruction of Faunus. Back when running from them was all she knew. She thought about it as she took in the eclipsing moment, in a few short moments the majesty of this wonder would be lost on all of nature until the brief lapse in time during which it would happen again the next morning. She took a deep breath in and she made her way down the path slowly, heading into the woods, but pausing before she reached the edge of the clearing. She turned back to look at the log cabin.

This cabin was the second half of her childhood, and easily the most important part as well. This is where she blossomed from a girl into a young woman, the place where her mothers and her sister had shown her what love really looked like, and they had shown her that love came in many forms. Home cooked meals, support in all of her decisions, the time that she had with her sister. This was where she struggled with an understanding of a hate that she had been forced to accept, and she overcame against her fears and predisposition. All of it was precious, and she wouldn't have traded any of it away for all of the Dust or lien in the world. She had to pause, this house was just an absolute on a yet incomplete journey. In a few hours, she'd be on her way to Beacon Academy.

Her mothers had told her stories of their time at Beacon, it was the only time in the history of Remnant that one of the towers had fallen as they had lulled themselves into a false sense of security and allowed evil to strike faster and harder than ever before. But the world had been returned to the state it was in before the attack, after only fifteen short years. They were enjoying a peace that was greater and even stronger than the previous period. The tower had been rebuilt. The kingdoms had slowly come back together and formed a new joint treaty, showing the darkness that was hiding out there, once and for all, that they would come together and would not allow themselves to be separated. They would act as a whole.

Though it wasn't as if Blake and Yang were forcing her into choosing Beacon. In the depths of Blake's heart, Neela knew that her mother wanted her to continue attending Patch, so that she could stay at home. It was her path to choose however and after weighing up all of her options, it seemed as if her best choice was heading to Beacon, likening the transition to leaving the White Fang. Change wasn't always a bad thing, and sometimes it was a necessary step in moving forward in life. Neela would train as hard as possible and when she graduated, she hoped that she would work under Glynda as her entire family had before her. It was a demanding goal that she had set before herself, but everyone that loved her had faith in her, and it drove her to push harder.

Neela turned back towards the woods again, moving in slowly as she removed her bow and crouched slightly, leaving the path, and sneaking under a fallen tree that had been there since she had been brought home. She watched as her memories danced past her eyes, a much younger Faunus girl running into the woods with her best friend. So carefree and naive. She cherished the innocence that she had somehow retained through it all, but she also acknowledged that at a certain point in one's life, it's better to be informed. It was the same day from that memory that Yang had saved them from a pack of Beowolves. Neela loved her mother, but she wasn't sure she had ever felt more loved than that day.

That wasn't to say that Neela didn't feel love every day from her mothers. That day in particular however, Yang had risked everything to save her, and it was then that Neela knew that she never wanted to leave Blake and Yang, ever. Neela sighed, thinking about the memory before quickly covering her mouth. Why was she being so reckless? She had come out here to stalk her prey and yet she had let such a simple slip up escape from her. She was better disciplined than that! This was her final free morning to train before leaving for life at the Academy and she needed to treat it she same as everyone that had come before it. She stopped for a moment and activated Hunter's Gaze, her semblance that allowed her to see hundreds of feet in every direction, as long as she was at a standstill.

When she used her power, it felt as though she left her body, able to snap back in an instant if need be, but everything around her faded and she could see and sense everything around her. She could mark enemy positions throughout an entire small building if need be, and it made her a valuable asset. Granted, her semblance didn't assist her offensive abilities at all, but she had trained herself to the point of fighting being an instinct. She examined the area, closing her eyes and noting nothing more than a few small animals that were chasing after each other through the woods. She steadied her breath.

She felt a wave of relief as she deactivated her ability and made her way further into the forest once again, her target wasn't in range which gave her hope that she hadn't been heard earlier. This was the last thing that she had to do before she left Patch, a feat that she had never accomplished despite countless attempts since she had been adopted, and she was determined to have a successful hunt no matter what. A wave of ecstasy hit Neela without warning and she crouched, stopping her movement again and surveying the area without her semblance. A few robins landed on a tree branch above her and sang to each other, surely a couple of friends catching up with each other. Or perhaps lovers, caught in a song of romance, only to fall prey to one another. She felt the ground and picked up a few of the leaves that had been padded down. She smelled them. She smiled slightly, this was the scent of her mark.

It was hard for Neela to explain, but she never felt more comfortable and confident in herself than when she was stalking prey. Perhaps it was her innate animal instincts, but it gave her a sense of determination and an undeniable rush of adrenaline and with it, clarity. They had come through here nearly ten minutes ago, but they weren't moving very fast. _Perfect,_ Neela thought as she slowly followed the trail. _Today will be the day I finally get her._ It came to her naturally… it was almost a supernatural feeling in fact! The trail was growing stronger and she moved a touch quicker, out of the leaves to avoid creating any unnecessary noise, and grabbing the grip on her bow, she pulled down hard, transforming it into a sword. She reached over to her right wrist with her left hand, activating a small electronic device that consisted of two buttons, and continuing towards the smell.

 _Something's wrong!_ She froze in place and observed the path again, her mind slowly shifting to show her that her prey had worn different shoes today than they normally would, and she could picture it in her head. If they had gone to that kind of trouble, they were on to her, and Neela would have to take extra care to try and spot them first. She moved beside a large tree trunk, placing her back against it and activating her semblance, still unable to spot her target. They had to be nearby, there was no reason that their scent would be that strong if they weren't! Unless…

Neela took off running the other direction, not stopping to look back one as she shifted her sword back into a bow and selected ice Dust on the touchscreen that she wore on her left forearm. She reached back and loaded the arrow, flipping her right wrist, the grapple hook she wore beneath her arm extending and pulling her into the trees. She perched for a moment, taking several deep breaths in as she tried to steady herself and regain focus, but it seemed that her target knew she still needed to work on maintaining clarity when put in a strange situation. She activated her semblance, but it was too late and she was knocked out of the tree by a blast, landing on her back on the ground.

"How did you know that I doubled back around?" The voice asked Neela as she tried to shake the ringing that had filled her ears. She took a knee and glanced over at her mark, shaking her head and slowly standing. Neela was disappointed in herself, but she had also learned her lesson, and she took every failure to heart so that she could do better the next time. She brushed herself off and stood ready, her bow loaded with the ice arrow still. Neela offered a smile as she thought her answer over.

"Ten minutes would be more than enough time for you to head into the woods, leave your arm behind, and cover your tracks as you went back to the house. You also grabbed Blake's shoes to try and throw me off," Neela told her as she fired her arrow. It struck the dirt in between Yang's feet and froze her to the ground and she chuckled and smiled. "What threw me off the most was the fact that the smell of oil was overwhelming, I assume you did that on purpose."

"You got me!" Yang exclaimed. She blasted the ice off of her feet and moved over to Neela as Neela placed her arm through her bow. Yang threw her arm around her daughter's shoulders and pulled her close. "I can't believe it Neela! Today's the day that you get to begin attending Beacon! It seems like it was just yesterday that Blake and I saved you from that collapsing building!" Neela looked at her mother and nuzzled her head against Yang's shoulder. Neela sighed as she looked back towards the house.

"It's hard to believe that I'm leaving," Neela told Yang. Yang pulled away and looked her in the eye, lifting up Neela's chin with her left hand.

"Don't think of it that way. You can always come home whenever you want," Yang reminded her. She threw her arm around Neela again and she hugged her mother back for a moment before it started to become awkward for her. She tried to push Yang away, but Yang had a death grip around her. Neela was surprised at her inability to escape, despite Yang's other arm laying in the leaves several yards in the other direction. "Don't think that you can't ever come home! I'll miss you too much! And Shadow won't allow it either!" Neela smiled at the mention of her little sister.

"I wouldn't want Shadow mad at me," Neela agreed. Yang let her go, tears beginning to fill her eyes as she smiled at Neela.

"I just can't believe it," Yang told her, juggling the words around in her own head. She walked away to retrieve her arm and Neela began heading back to the yard, waiting for just a moment for Yang to return to her. _Don't think of it that way,_ Yang had told her. Neela recalled Yang telling her the same thing when they had taken her from the White Fang when she was far more reluctant to leave. _Don't think of it as leaving the White Fang_ , Yang had told her, _think of it as starting a brand new adventure!_ Somehow Yang always knew what to tell Neela, and knew when to say it. "So are you excited that Eliana is going with you?"

Everything stopped for a moment as Yang continued past Neela to the house and she stood in awe for a long moment, the weight of the entire situation had hit her all at once. She and Eliana would both be going together, wouldn't they? It almost seemed too good to be true.

"Of course! She's my best friend!" Neela exclaimed. She chased after her mother as they reached the edge of the woods. Calling Eliana her best friend was probably the grossest of understatements that Neela could ever make about anyone she had ever met. Eliana Latherus had been more than a best friend to Neela, she had been everything. The older that Neela had gotten, the more that people expected greatness purely based on her last name alone. They knew she was a Xiao Long, and merely due to her namesake, people expected that she would be an amazing huntress, but it wasn't that easy. Neela pushed herself to be great, harder than anyone she had ever met, and when everyone else assumed that it came naturally, Eliana saw the truth. Eliana had been there shortly after they brought her back to Patch, and they knew everything about each other.

"Still just friends, huh?" Yang asked Neela. Neela flushed. Well, they knew almost everything about each other. Neela wasn't sure what the exact moment was that it had happened, but over the course of the last year, she had noticed something that hadn't been there in the past. She found Eliana more and more distracting. She found it cute how Eliana walked and talked, and the way she laughed caused Neela to melt. On more than one occasion now Eliana had asked her what she was staring at, but by no means was Neela ready to admit that Eliana's breasts had caught her gaze.

"What are you talking about?" Neela asked trying to deflect the question. "Of course we're just friends. We're just really good friends mom." Yang smiled and she gave Neela a playful shove, despite her daughter's frustration.

"Uh huh. You tell me the same thing in an hour or so when we're with Eliana and her mother, without blushing, or even the slightest hint of frustration, and I will give you Ember Celica," Yang told her. Neela rolled her eyes.

"I don't want Ember Celica mom!" She exclaimed, a smile tugging at her lips as she shoved Yang back.

"Your loss! Looks like Shadow will be getting them when she's old enough after all!" Yang told her. She continued towards the house and Neela stopped for a moment, still deep in thought.

"Hey mom!" Neela called out. Yang stopped, looking back at Neela who traced her foot in the grass, running her hand through her own hair. Yang held back a smile, knowing that Eliana was the only thing on Neela's mind. Yang wasn't sure why Neela resisted her own feelings so hard, but she understood that it was a different situation than it had been with her and Blake. They had always shown feelings towards each other that were more than mutual, but Eliana and Neela had been just 'friends' for a lot longer before Neela realized what was going on in her own head. "When I'm ready, I can talk to you, right?" Yang chuckled.

"Of course! After all, I _am_ the cool mom!" Yang exclaimed. The window slid open beside the door on the cabin and Blake filled the space.

"I heard that!" Blake yelled out laughing. Yang looked back, blushing and waving at Blake. Neela laughed at the two of them. Her mothers had always been so cute together. "You two better hurry up! Neela still has to pack, and we still have to pick up Eliana before the airship arrives! Are they still just…" Yang ran her hand across her throat trying to cut Blake off as Neela looked at her mother, a scowl on her face. "Right. Got it!"

"Don't worry kitty cat! I'll be done with her out here before you need her!" Yang called back to the house. She looked back at Neela, shaking her head and using her cybernetic hand to mimic Blake's mouth as she spoke.

"You'd better be! And you better not be making fun of me out there!" Blake called out to them. Neela laughed again as Yang took a battle stance and faced Neela down. Neela slipped her bow off and drew it back, loading a gravity arrow onto the string.

"Ready?" Yang asked. Neela's mind filled with wonder and doubt about everything. Her future away from her parents and on her own. Her life at Beacon. Being away from home with Eliana. Meeting new people. Making new friends. Making enemies. The idea excited her and she held the arrow steady, staring down the sights.

"Ready."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for joining us again this week. The next few chapters may seem short and choppy but it's all build up for when we finally get to glimpse into Team NITE's life at Beacon. Next Week - Letting Go!
> 
> A special overdue thanks to that guy who wrights for beta reading the first chapter and trailers. Also a special thanks once again to my co-creator OrganoidZero.
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	6. Letting Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang and Blake come to terms with letting Neela leave the nest and spread her wings. On their way to the airship, they pick up Elli, who it appears that Neela is more than a little interested in.

Blake grabbed another suitcase and unlatched it, pulling it open and tossing it onto the bed as she opened the dresser and began tossing everything in that was clothing. Blake was starting to wonder if it would have been faster to bring the entire dresser, even if it would have seemed a bit like overkill. She leaned back, trying to peek into the living room for any sign of Yang or Neela, but it was no use, she was sure they were still outside. They would be unless she went out there and brought them in.

Ever since before they had made the decision to keep Neela, Yang and Neela had always had a bond that was more like mother and daughter than most children could dream of. It just made sense though, as Neela desperately wanted a human in her life to prove everything that she had known about them wrong, and Yang wanted just as badly to prove to herself that she would be a better mother than Raven as if there was ever any doubt. Those bonds perpetually pushed the two towards each other until their relationship became absolute. They understood each other at times on a level that even Blake and Yang had never achieved in their many years of marriage.

"I'm Lisa Lavender, and in tonight's news, the head of the quick-growing military force in Mistral talks about how he's been cutting down crime and has reduced the number of bandit attacks in major cities by nearly half. Here in the studio, we have the man himself, Sterling Stratford, who began assembling the Mistral Military back when Atlas had attacked Beacon years ago, not ready for his great kingdom to fall at the hands of such brutes. Sterling, I have to say, it's a pleasure to have you…" Blake could hear the TV saying from the other room. Blake pulled a pair of Yang's old shorts out of Neela's dresser, wondering how they got there, and if Yang had actually fit into them at one point. Blake chuckled at her own amusement and shrugged, tossing them in with the rest of Neela's stuff.

Blake found it all to be a bit bittersweet as she made sure that everything was going to fit into the luggage before ensuring that it zipped closed without too much effort. She sat on the bed for a moment and looked around the room. Archery trophies, marks for her impressive swordsmanship, pictures of Eliana and Neela doing the most random things together. Blake laughed, realizing that it was all that she could do to keep from crying. She knew that she would see Neela on a regular basis, due to taking Glynda's job at the school when she chose to fill Ozpin's vacancy after he died fighting Salem. However, her leaving was something entirely different.

They'd have dinner without her. They'd have weekends without her. It left an empty feeling, but Blake also couldn't be more proud of the girl that they had met nearly twelve years ago. The moment they had rescued her, adoption hadn't been their intention, but slowly Neela grew on them as much as they grew on her. Blake could still remember Neela's eyes lighting up as they showed her the room, the same day that they told her they were keeping her forever.

 _I have my own room!_ Neela had asked, a twinkle in her eye as she looked up at Blake with her hawk eyes, they were wide and filled with wonder.

 _This room is just for you Neela. No more tents. No more hiding. No more running. This is the place you can go to feel safe. This is where you'll stay Neela. We love you._ Neela looked at Yang and then back at Blake, tears streaming down her face as she grabbed both of them and held them close. She couldn't know how much she meant to them, though Blake had a feeling that she felt the same about them.

 _I love you too!_ It was the first time she had told them that she loved them. Blake stood, wiping the tears from her eyes as she double checked the dresser, making sure that she hadn't missed anything that Neela might want to take with her. Blake checked her scroll, noting the time and calling out into the hallway in hopes to get a reply from Yang.

"Yang, have you ever noticed how much Lisa Lavender sounds like…"

"Mommy's not in here!" Shadow called from the hallway. Blake sighed, well aware that Yang hadn't returned to the house with Neela yet, but she had been hopeful. Blake stuck her head out to find Shadow had pulled Yang's spare arm out of their bedroom and was running around the house playing with it. Shadow leaped, pausing in the middle of the hall, and swung the arm, as though she was performing a karate chop at some invisible enemy. Blake wanted to smile and laugh at her daughter, but she knew that she had to be stern. The girl couldn't have been any more like Yang if she tried.

"Shadow! Put that down!" Blake demanded. Shadow looked up at her, she pouted with her large purple eyes and her long black hair in a frizzy mess. She wore a pair of black leggings with a purple t-shirt that was a touch too long that read 'kitty cat', Yang's idea. Her ears were black like her mother's, the right had blonde on the tip, and she had an earring in her left that had been a gift from Kali. Blake wanted to be angry, but that face made it hard to stay angry at her daughter. Blake knelt down and prepared for what came next.

"I'm sorry mommy," she replied. She slowly trudged over to Blake before running the last few steps, throwing herself at Blake and handing over the arm, trying not to cry. Blake wrapped her arms around Shadow and drew her in. She tried to calm the small girl, reminding herself to try to keep her nerves in check.

"It's okay, honey. Where is Mommy Yang and Sissy?" Blake asked. Shadow looked up at her and sniffed.

"Mommy and Sissy are still outside," Shadow told her. Blake let go of her, giving her the arm back without giving it a second thought and brushed past her into the living room. She placed herself in the open window again and placed her hands on her hips, making them both overly aware of her displeasure with them. Yang spotted her out of the corner of her eye and glanced over quickly offering a smile in an attempt to defuse the situation.

"Wrap it up, Yang! We need to go!" Blake shouted out. Yang blocked a swipe from Neela with her gauntlets and knocked the girl back. She fired several shots at Neela which she blocked with her sword before Neela stopped her attack, watching as Blake left the window. _That's not a good sign._

"I'm trying to, but Neela's not going easy on me!" Yang replied. Yang cringed as she could hear the dead bolt being undone as Blake unlocked the door and stomped out into the middle of the dirt path, hands fixed on her hips again, pointing up at the house this time. Shadow stood in the doorway, using the spare arm to wave out at the three of them. Neela contained her laughter to spare the expense of pissing off Blake. She covered her mouth and her cheeks puffed out, having to force herself to look away before she lost control.

"Neela! In the house now!" Blake demanded. Neela gave a quick nod and transformed her weapon back into bow form, slinging it over her shoulder again and she ran up to the house and picked up Shadow as she rushed in, causing Shadow to giggle. Blake rolled up the sleeves of her black sweater and pointed at the house again. "Yang…"

"You're so cute when you're angry babe!" Yang told her as she headed for the house. "I love it when you're feist-"

"Not now Yang! Do you want Neela to be late to her first day of school?" Blake asked Yang. Yang shook her head and Blake slammed the door shut behind them as she stepped past Yang and rushed back into Neela's room.

"You're just worrying too much hun. Neela's not a little girl anymore, she can do things on her own. You act like we're sending her off to kindergarten. Not to mention, if you do miss the airship, another one will come by in about a half an hour," Yang explained to Blake as she rushed around the house. As Blake hurried past Yang again, leaving a clone behind.

"So you want her to be on the last airship in, is that what you're saying?" The clone asked. Yang shook her head.

"You know, in Academy, you couldn't have cared less what we thought about you babe," Yang reminded Blake. Neela set Shadow down on the couch after playing with her for a moment, heading to her room to make sure that everything was where it should be.

"I remember, but Neela does care about her image, and I'm not going to embarrass her by making her ride the last airship in," Blake told Yang. Yang kissed the clone and it disappeared. Yang joined them in the bedroom, grabbing Blake from behind. Blake gave out a sigh and leaned her head back, letting Yang kiss her on the neck.

"Deep breath babe. It'll be fine." Yang reassured her. Blake nodded. Yang and Blake watched as Neela began quickly unpacking her bag, throwing the clothes across the bed and scattering them as she searched the bottom of the luggage for something. Neela gave a few nervous grunts of concern as she quickly shifted everything in the bag, flipping the top shut and opening every side zipper. "Neela, what's up?"

"Where's my gift for Elli?!" Neela demanded on the verge of an anxiety attack. She had to give it to Eliana tomorrow! Maybe she'd finally muster up the strength to tell her as well then, but first things first! If she didn't have the gift, she might as well not go! Panic set in, and she made up her mind! _It's missing! It's missing and I'm never going to Beacon! I'm going to avoid Elli like the plague and…_

"This?" Blake asked as she held the small wooden case out to Neela with both hands. Neela looked up, blushing at Blake who smiled at her. Neela looked at the case for a moment, which she proceeded to snatch away and placed in the suitcase, repacking everything back on top of it. "Neela, there's no way that I was going to let you leave without that." Neela brushed her short bangs away from her face and avoided eye contact as she shoved it all back in, zipping it shut. She took a deep breath. She couldn't explain why that had caused her so much panic, but it had and she was embarrassed at the fact.

"No, of course not. I knew that it had to be around here somewhere, I just needed to know that I had it for sure," Neela told them. She finished zipping everything back up and grabbed one of her bags, making her way towards the door as Blake grabbed the other. "I love you, mom." She stopped before leaving the room and kissed Yang on the cheek. "I guess I'll see you in a week or so?" Blake left behind Neela, with Yang taking up the rear and stopping as she reached the living room.

"Of course!" Yang exclaimed. "You'll be having so much fun, you won't even notice Xiao Long I was gone for!" Neela's eye twitched as she looked over at Blake who had turned away, shaking her head. Neela managed to make eye contact with Blake and glanced back over her shoulder. Yang smiled at both of them, giving them a thumbs up.

"That was bad," Neela muttered under her breath.

"They normally are," Blake reminded her daughter. The door swung open before Neela or Blake could reach the knob and there stood Qrow with a young girl close to Shadow in age, wearing a red cape. She had short, red hair with white tips on the end and she ran past Neela and Blake, tackling Shadow.

"Amelia!" Shadow laughed as she rolled on the floor with her cousin.

"Uncle Qrow!" Neela exclaimed as she dropped her bag, jumping up and down and running to him, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. "You haven't been out here in awhile!" Qrow grunted causing Neela to let him go and he cracked his back, giving her a smile. "Did you miss me?" Qrow chuckled.

"Nope," He replied as he took a step forward, pulling her in for a long embrace. "Things have been a little busy recently with the last few missions I've been on. Not to mention baby Rosy has been a bundle of… joy." Blake and Yang chuckled as Qrow released Neela and removed his flask, taking a long swig. He held the flask out towards Neela.

"Can I?" Neela asked with an excited look on her face.

"No!" Blake protested, leaving no room for debate. Qrow shrugged at Neela with a smile and put the flask back in his jacket pocket. Blake gave him a death stare which went completely unnoticed and he turned his attention to Yang.

"So why is Amelia with you?" Yang asked watching the girls disappear down the hall.

"Ruby had a mission that couldn't wait any longer and Weiss is busy with something Schnee related. I didn't ask for details, I don't usually mind watching her." Qrow pointed at Neela. "I actually came to see you off kiddo. And to have a word with Yang." Yang looked at him past Blake and slipped past her. Neela looked at Qrow, wondering what he might have to tell her, before looking over at Yang as well.

"About what?" Yang asked. Qrow looked her in the eyes without saying a word and her expression became sullen. "Oh." Yang looked at Blake who understood. Blake glanced at Neela with a smile fixed carefully on her lips.

"What's going on?" Neela asked. Blake grabbed Neela's bag, handing it back to her.

"I'll explain later Neela. We should get going," Blake told her and Neela understood that for now, she would let it drop. Neela looked at Yang again who still looked as if she had been injured and then back at Blake who gave her a nod.

"Bye, mom! Bye, Uncle Qrow! Love you both!" Neela called out as they headed down the path. Neela was troubled by her mother's sudden change in demeanor, but she was sure that if anyone could handle a problem, it was Yang.

"Love you kiddo!" Qrow called out. Qrow looked at Yang as she looked up and gestured his head towards Neela. Yang shoved past Qrow and ran down the path to Neela, wrapping her arms around her. Neela felt the warmth of her mother's embrace and cherished it for the long moment, holding on to the feeling for as long as she could before it inevitably faded.

"I love you Neela. Never forget that." Neela looked at Yang and gave her mother a smile. This woman was her mother. Though Yang had never given birth to her, never changed her, never had to teach her to speak or eat… Yang had chosen to love her no matter what. Neela's body was filled with a warmth and overwhelming sense of belonging as she remembered everything that Yang did for her, even though she didn't have to. Neela hadn't made it easy at first either. At first, she wanted nothing to do with Yang, but little by little, Yang forced herself into Neela's heart.

"I love you too, mom," she replied. Yang smiled slightly and held back her tears as she watched the two of them disappear down the path as they crossed over the crest of the nearest hill, Neela turned back and gave one final wave that broke Yang. She waited until Neela was out of sight before she fell to her knees, sobbing on the ground and Qrow came out to meet her. He stood over her, peering out into the distance before he finally addressed her.

"What's it feel like?" Qrow asked. "How does it feel to know that girl loves you with every fiber of her soul?" Yang sobbed as she grabbed him and pulled herself up, bawling into his shirt.

"I love her so much Qrow! I know it's time to let her go, but I don't want to! Is that wrong of me?" She asked him. He wiped the tears out of her eyes and smiled at her.

"No Yang. That's how you should feel, you're her mother. You gave her everything and taught her all of the skills that she's gonna need to survive. I'd say you did better than any parent that I've ever known," he reassured her. She looked up at him, her eyes becoming dark as she stepped away and moved back to the house. Qrow stared down the path for a few more moments before heading back in as well. "Yang, I didn't mean to…"

"What does she want?" Yang asked as she sat down at the table and Qrow pulled up a seat across from her. Qrow met her eyes on the opposite end the table, knowing that she was restraining herself from entering a blind rage, her eyes flickering red on occasion. "What could she possibly want after all of this time? She must be in some sort of delirious state if she thinks it's as easy as just wanting me to accept her back into my life. Is she dying?"

"Maybe we should take this back outside," Qrow requested sliding his chair back. Yang slammed her fist against the table, splintering the wood on the top and leaving a small dent.

"Tell me Qrow." Yang's stare was intense, and Qrow knew from experience with Raven that he shouldn't keep Yang waiting, especially if she was already this worked up. He looked away and she slammed her fist again on the table, pushing her seat back and standing up. "Qrow!"

"Yes Yang, you're right! She wants to make amends!" Qrow finally shouted back. Yang scoffed and stormed out of the house, leaving him to chase after her.

"You're right, we did need to take this back outside," Yang exclaimed pacing back and forth. Qrow stayed near the door.

"You have to understand where she's coming from," Qrow offered. It was the wrong choice of words and Yang's hair flared up as she marched to the edge of the property, her fist punching a hole straight through one of the smaller trees. She seethed as she turned back towards Qrow, her body heaving with rage.

"I have to understand where she's coming from?!" Yang screamed at him. "She abandoned me before I was old enough to walk!" Yang fired shots into the woods trying to minimize the damage from her rage as the shots thundered through the clearing, causing birds to scatter in all directions as she fired at random spots, trying her hardest to leave most of the trees intact. "Why does she want to come back now, huh? I'm sure it's to her benefit, everything that she's ever done she's only done if she gets something out of it, so what is it? Tell me Qrow!" He raised his hands, shrugging his shoulders.

"That may be true Yang, but I have no idea what Raven is up to this time. All that she told me is that she wants to see you and she'd like to meet her granddaughters," he told her. Yang's eyes were cold, but Qrow could hardly blame her.

"I don't care. The next time you see her, you tell her that if she doesn't stay away from my family, she'll wish she had," Yang told him. She turned away from facing him and fired one more shot into the forest before her eyes became purple again and she made her way back to the house to be greeted by Shadow and Amelia who had come running when they heard all of the noise.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Shadow asked, there was a slight tremble in the girl's voice and she looked frightened as Yang approached her and picked her up. She nodded and ran her fingers through Shadow's hair, looking her in the eyes. Shadow always knew when something was going on. Yang smiled, her daughter's warmth pushing away the thoughts of abandonment.

"Mommy's fine. You run along and play with Amelia," Yang told her. She set Shadow down and Shadow was gone again in a blink, rough housing with Amelia as they disappeared up the stairs. Yang stared into the empty kitchen for a moment until Qrow snapped her out of it, placing his hand lightly on her shoulder. She looked back at him, her eyes filled with concern.

"Can you watch both of the girls for a few hours? I have to head up to the school and finish filling out some paper work before I start training next week. Plus I have my weekly briefing tonight." Yang told him. He nodded. He gave her a smile and walked past her to the kitchen and she smiled as she headed back towards the door to leave. He opened the fridge and she could hear him rummaging around as she pulled on her coat, zipping it up as she waited for Qrow to call out, knowing what would come next.

"Is there anything in here that I can fill my flask with?" He called out to her as she opened the door and stood in the doorway. She smirked as she faced the east, watching the sun.

"There's this crazy thing called water! You might try that!" She yelled back. He murmured in dissatisfaction.

"Figures."

* * *

Eliana stood at the edge of her porch, peering out across Patch towards Signal which sat along the coast line. The morning sun glinted off of the water and gave Signal a silhouette, making it seem both ominous and prestigious all at the same time. Would she get this kind of view from the dorms at Beacon? Her mother let the screen door slam shut behind her as she stepped out onto the porch and wrapped her sweater closer to her body, shivering slightly as she sat on a hanging swing beside the door, sipping on her morning coffee.

"Good morning Elli. Ready for what life has to offer?" Her mother asked her after taking a long sip. She blew on it, causing steam to cloud her vision a smidge, but not so much that she couldn't see that Eliana was looking back at her. Eliana gave her that signature smile, pointing out at the distant coast and school. Eliana had always shared the shame fascination of the ocean that her father had.

"I can't believe that I was accepted to attend Beacon Academy!" Eliana exclaimed. She leapt up onto the white wooden banister that wrapped around the deck and sat on it, letting her feet dangle as she took in this growing sensation of new beginnings and endless possibility. She wrapped her arms around her waist and twisted back and forth. "Imagine all of the fun things I'll get to do! Imagine all of the cute boys I'll meet! Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get to train under Pyrrha Nikos!" Eliana looked back at her mother again, a smile still planted on her lips as she leapt down off of the railing and walked back up the steps and onto the porch. She stood in front of her mom, body turned towards her mother, but still staring off into the majesty of the ocean, captivated by thought and dreams of potential. The breeze caught her shoulder-length purple hair on occasion, tossing it around.

"I'm glad you're excited about all of this Elli. Your father would be very proud," her mother told her. The joy in Eliana's eyes flickered momentarily at the mention of her father and she glanced back at her mother for a brief moment, but the wonderment returned as she nodded at her mother and leaned in, hugging her tight and squeezing her gently as to not spill any coffee. The fall breeze picked up once again and Violet looked her daughter over as she shielded herself from the wind to the best of her abilities. She shivered again, her teeth clicking together for a moment as she brought the mug up to her lips. "Aren't you cold wearing that Elli? I wouldn't want you getting sick." Eliana looked herself over. She wore a pair of black cargo pants, the multiple pockets seemed to be essential and convenient in providing her with storage for ammunition. On the right butt pocket was her emblem, her father's pistols pointed downward, parallel to each other, and overlaid on top of his badge.

Her top was a purple cropped tank that revealed her toned midriff and that wrapped around her neck, the straps slightly thicker than spaghetti style, in order to help support her bust. She wore a short white vest that had purple and black detailing which hung off of her shoulders. The vest was thin and no longer than her tank top but was purely for aesthetics as it was far too small to ever hope to button up. She wore a black sleeve on her right forearm that had white and purple detailing, and black fingerless gloves on each hand. She had a thin elbow pad on her left elbow. Her green eyes lit up as she looked back at her mom.

"I'm fine!" Eliana reassured her mother. "Don't I look great in this!? I wonder what Neela will think!" Eliana ran down the steps and looked down the path towards the direction of Neela's cabin, but didn't spot anyone yet. Her mother chuckled as she watched her daughter bounce around in the yard, hardly able to contain her excitement about her newest adventure. Violet was well aware of what Neela would think of Eliana's new outfit, but if Eliana felt anything for Neela outside of friendship, no one knew of it. Violet had her doubts, Eliana rarely ever kept anything to herself, and with _her_ personality, people normally knew what she thought and how she felt the moment she thought or felt it.

"You'll have to ask her when she gets here!" Violet called out. "I'm going to grab your bag! Let me know when they're here!"

"Of course momma!" Eliana called back. Eliana removed the dual pistols from her hip holsters and pointed them towards the woods, old targets carved into trees that she had made many years ago were riddled with bullet holes and she smirked for a moment. Ever since her dad had died they had been here. She did her best to take it in stride, but her father was her hero, he was her everything. When he died, part of Eliana died too, and when it did, she took on a new persona. She was determined to start over and continue her father's legacy of doing good as long as she had the means to. That had always been his philosophy. She looked the guns over in her hands.

Eliana's dad had been on the police force in Mistral since before she was born, he had decided to join shortly before meeting her mother. At the time her mother had been finishing up her schooling at Haven Academy and she worked in the market as a fruit vendor in the big city. Her mother told her that her father would come and talk to her every day, buying a single apple each time and using it as an excuse to come and visit her. Violet fell for him quickly, seeing as the boy was always so kind and composed.

That's how Eliana remembered her father. He had been strong and composed and was never quick to anger. Despite coming home exhausted or even in rough shape, he would have a smile on his face, satisfied that he had kept them safe for another day. He was truly amazing, and the entire reason that Eliana had chosen to train to become a huntress herself. She would follow in his footsteps, determined to protect her mother now that he was gone. It had all happened so suddenly...

It had been a Grimm attack while she and her mother had run into town to make a few purchases at the market. When they returned, Eliana was the first one to find her father, dead in the living room. His body was mangled, it appeared as though he had been ripped apart by some creature of Grimm. It changed Eliana, she had always lived under this false sense of security that as long as they did good, good things would happen to them. Up until that point it had been true. She was confused by her father's death, for a long time she didn't eat or say anything, fear gripped her over the fact that even if she did good things, bad things could still happen. Her core had been shaken.

Her mother had brought her back to Patch where she had originally been from before meeting Alexander, Eliana's father. Eliana was so young yet, seven years old, but that was when she met Neela. She couldn't describe it, she wasn't even sure that it would make sense if she did, but Neela was the most amazing person that Eliana had ever met. Neela made her understand in a strange way that you should do good because it's the best way a person can show love, not because it'll keep you safe. Neela had been an orphan and had been a victim of hate for a long time, but Neela had told her that love can fix anything. Eliana understood then that her father's death had happened because of the love that he felt for mankind and not just himself, and that the love that Eliana received from her mother and her new friend Neela was more than enough to replace the love that she had lost from her father. But had she really lost his love?

After becoming friends with Neela, Eliana always felt a sense of joy and happiness all the time. She realized that her father's love wasn't gone, but it was now hers to give to others, through defending Remnant and helping the ones she loved. She and Neela had done everything together and the older they got, the more people expected from Neela, saying that she was only as talented as she was because her parents were and that it must come naturally. It tore Neela up, being compared to her mothers constantly, but it hurt Neela worse when she fell short of the expectations that had been piled on her. Eliana ignored it though, she told Neela that as long as she was trying her hardest, then she was doing her job as a Huntress, no matter what anyone else thought. It made Neela smile and making Neela happy was what helped Eliana keep moving forward after her father died. She wanted to make Neela happy all of the time.

Eliana quickly slammed a clip of regular bullets into each gun and fired in rapid succession, hitting the bullseye every time, with the exception of the last one as it was shot out of the air with an arrow. Eliana looked at it for a short moment in confusion before she was filled with excitement and adrenaline. She holstered her guns and sprinted towards Neela without looking up, slamming into her and wrapping her arms around her, twirling her around the best she could, which proved awkward as Neela was a few inches taller than she was.

"Neela! I'm so excited! It's finally here! We're finally going!" Eliana exclaimed. She put her back down and Neela chuckled and brushed herself off, setting her bag down as Blake stopped next to her offering Eliana a warm smile. "Hello, Mrs. Xiao Long!"

"Hello, Eliana. New outfit for the new school year I see," Blake pointed out. Neela looked up from tending to straightening out her jacket and noted what Eliana was wearing. _Damn,_ Neela thought as her mind locked up on her. _That can't seriously be what she's going to wear! How am I going to get any studying done?!_ Neela wondered if her face was as red as she imagined it had to be, a heat washing over her from her head to her toes. An awkward grin tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Mmhmm. Do you like it Neela?" Eliana asked. Neela stood in silence for a moment as Eliana modeled it. Neela bit her trembling lower lip and nodded. To say that she liked it wasn't doing it justice, but to tell Eliana how it really made her feel wouldn't be appropriate for her to admit in front of her mother. She wasn't sure how Eliana would take her true feelings about it either.

"It looks great on you Elli!" Neela told her. Eliana blushed.

"Thanks! I think you tend to flatter me a bit too much," Eliana told her. A look of revelation filled Eliana's eyes and she turned back towards the house. "Momma! They're here!"

"I'll be out in just a moment!" Violet shouted out from the house. Eliana stood there for a long moment with her hands clasped in front of her before having another moment of sudden realization and running over to Blake.

"Here Mrs. Bellabooty, let me…" Eliana's eyes went dark as she looked away and flushed, staring hard at a few rocks along the side of the path. Blake looked around her to try and get a view of her face. Eliana turned further away from Blake as Neela glanced back and forth between the two of them. Blake turned a light shade of pink as she set the bag down. Her mind went instantly to the only person who still referred to her by that name.

"What did she call you?" Neela asked. She wasn't sure she had heard Eliana correctly, and if she had, she could only imagine where it came from. Blake placed her hand on her forehead, shaking her head while chuckling.

"Yang said it the other day," Eliana mumbled under her breath. "I… It was a mistake, honestly." Violet stepped out on the porch, pulling Eliana's suit case down the steps and dragging it through the grass as she ran over to join them. She struggled for a moment as the bag was hard to pull through the rough terrain, but eventually made it, only slightly out of breath. She gave them all the same smile that Eliana normally gave and Neela smiled back.

"Hello Blake," Violet said cheerily. She noted Eliana avoiding eye contact and moved closer to her daughter, asking her if something was wrong. "Everything alright?" Blake let out a slightly more audible nervous chuckle which caused Eliana to grit her teeth and tense up. Neela moved to her friend and wrapped her arm over her shoulders.

"Yeah!" Neela exclaimed. "Everything's fine! Eliana was just going to help my mom with the bag, right?" Eliana smirked and looked up at Neela. Somehow Neela always got her to smile. Even if it was just as simple as being there for her. Eliana looked back at her mother, who still had a wondering look on her face, and nodded.

"Exactly!" Eliana declared. She turned back towards Blake, blushing as she nodded at her in mutual understanding, and took the bag from her. Eliana extended her left elbow towards Neela. "Shall we?"

"Of course!" Neela exclaimed, hooking her arm over Eliana's. They walked down the part towards Signal as they bumped into each other on occasion and laughed. Violet watched them and shook her head sighing.

"I've never seen a girl more in denial towards her own feelings than Neela," Violet told Blake. Blake chuckled.

"If I had given birth to her, I would have told you that she got it from me!" Blake offered and the two of them laughed. "Though to be honest, she's not denying her feelings, she's just not admitting them. I know how she feels. When I realized my feelings for Yang I was scared to admit it to her right away, hell, I was terrified that Yang might not feel the same way and that it would create a gap between us. The difference in my situation is that Yang made the first move, but from where we sit right now, we're not sure Eliana has feelings for Neela like that, are we?" Violet shook her head and sighed as she pulled the suitcase up onto the path and they slowly followed after the girls.

"At this point, it would be safer to say that Elli loves Neela like the sister she never had. Not something you really want to hear coming from the person you want to be romantic with in the future," Violet said stating the obvious. "With that being said, there's nothing more we can do. They're not our little girls anymore in the literal sense. Every decision from here on out is for them to make, we can only hope that we influenced them enough when they were younger to make the right ones when they're older." They walked in silence for awhile, the only sound that accompanied them was their feet against the path, and the sound of the luggage rolling along. "It'll hurt when she's gone. She's the only piece of her father that I have left. When she speaks, it's almost as if he's trying to remind me that everything is going to be okay." Blake glanced at Violet and offered a warm smile.

"You're always free to visit Yang and me over at the cabin," Blake told her. Violet nodded as she watched Neela and Eliana in the distance.

"I will, Thank you," Violet replied. "Look at them. So carefree. So unaware of how the world really is outside of this island." Blake agreed, for the most part.

"Mmm. I think they know what it can be like. I just think that they've both chosen to forget." Blake looked at Violet, she could feel the woman's anxiety and concern for her daughter flowing out of her from the way she spoke to the way she pulled the suitcase behind her. "They'll be fine though. Salem is dead, and Remnant has been at peace for nearly a fifteen years. They're going off to Beacon and I know from experience, it's more good than it is bad."

"I know, it's just hard," Violet told her. Blake tried to reassure her once again.

"They're strong. I'd almost say that they're stronger than my team was when we started." Violet chuckled and shook her head.

"I doubt that," Violet responded. Blake smirked. _They might very well be._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late upload, I had to finish Christmas shopping this morning. Hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all next week in Chapter 3 - The Trip and The Maniac!
> 
> A special thanks once again to my co-creator OrganoidZero.
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	7. The Trip and The Maniac

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neela and Eliana make the trip to Beacon from Patch on an airship, both taking in the sights and feeling amazed that they're finally there. Shortly after they arrive, a fellow student claiming to be a Maniac gives them a taste of what they're in for.

"What do you think our other two teammates are going to be like?!" Eliana asked as she kept a few steps ahead of Neela. "Maybe one of them will be a Faunus! That would be awesome!" Neela laughed at Eliana. Eliana was always bubbly and her imagination kept the two of them entertained. Neela decided that she would tease her a bit.

"What kind of Faunus?" Neela asked.

"A snake! Maybe a girl with really seductive snake eyes! An unbreakable gaze that almost hypnotizes her prey before she strikes!" Eliana exclaimed. She formed a sort of claw with her hand, turning back towards Neela and leering at her. "Look into my eyes! You cannot escape my grasp!" Neela folded her arms and looked away playfully, forcing herself to walk awkwardly for a few moments as her bag bumped against her knees.

"I think you're just trying to find someone to replace me," Neela told her, peeking over at Eliana from the corner of her eye. Eliana shoved Neela and Neela chuckled.

"Shut up! Like I'd ever want to replace you," Eliana told her. Eliana smiled and moved next to Neela for a bit, Signal was getting closer by the minute and with every step they put behind them, the more excited Eliana became. "What about you? What do you think our other two teammates are going to be like?" Neela looked at Eliana, lost in her dark green eyes for a long moment. Maybe it was the outfit that was driving her to act so rash, or perhaps it was the fact that in all reality, the only person that Neela could think about was Eliana, she wasn't sure. Now was the time for her to make a move, now was the time for her to tell her. Then they would be able to take the new school year together in stride and Neela wouldn't have to worry about losing her to someone else. Neela walked past Eliana quickly, stopping in front of her, and dropping her bag on the ground. "Neela…?"

Neela grabbed Eliana's face and pulled her in hard for a kiss, Eliana's hand pushing against Neela's chest in a fit of surprise and struggle before wavering and resting gently below her clavicles. A strange hunger overtook Neela as she held Eliana's face close with her left hand on the back of the girl's head, her right hand finding the middle of Eliana's back and pulling her in close. They both gasped, but neither of them wanted it to stop as they kissed each other again with even more force, Neela sucking gently on Eliana's lower lip. Eliana's hands slid up over Neela's shoulders and wrapped around her neck.

"As long as we're together, I don't care who the other two are!" Neela exclaimed exasperatedly.

* * *

"Neela?" Eliana asked again. She waved her hand in front of her friend's face, snapping her out of it and she shook her head. "Are you okay?" Neela looked away in disappointment as she lightly brushed her own lips with her fingers. _Dammit! But it had felt so real!_ She looked back at Eliana and smiled. Eliana had the cutest puzzled look on her face. Neela was half tempted to act out her fantasy at that moment, though she knew deep down that fear would get the best of her.

"I must have started daydreaming there for a moment," Neela explained. Eliana raised her eyebrow and gave her friend a twisted smile as she started walking away from her. "Hey, what was that look all about!?"

"Oh nothing," Eliana told her with a wicked grin. Neela laughed and shoved her hard. "Hey!"

"Come on! You can't just act like that and then tell me that it's nothing!" Neela exclaimed.

"I saw that look you got when you were daydreaming. It must have been about some cute boy, huh?" Eliana asked. "I think your chest even started flushing a little!" Neela froze for a moment and took a sharp breath in. _It's you, Elli. You're the one who does this to me._ Neela looked down and adjusted her top, following after Eliana again and letting out a long sigh. Someday she'd be able to tell her, but not yet. "Was I close?" Neela laughed sheepishly.

"Not exactly," Neela replied. Eliana stopped and spread her arms out, the bag she was carrying slammed into Neela, stopping her in her tracks. Eliana pointed and screamed silently as she bounced up and down. Neela noted the large airship, which had the Vale emblem painted on the side of it, doors open and ready for students to board.

"There's our airship!" Eliana exclaimed excitedly. She picked up the bag in both hands and sprinted the rest of the way, leaving Neela behind to wait for her mom. She shook her head and looked back, watching as Violet and Blake slowly made their way to meet up with her again. She expected that they would have caught up more during the thirty-minute walk. Neela grinned as she made eye contact with her mom.

"Come on you two! At this rate, Elli's gonna tell them to take off without us!" Neela called back. Blake looked at Violet and gave her a nudge, pointing past Neela.

"You're one to talk!" Blake called out. Both of the women disappeared and Neela scanned the woods for them for a moment before turning back around to face the airship. Violet was hugging Eliana and Blake sat on the corner of a large water fountain, legs crossed as she gave Neela a coy smile. Blake's clones always seemed to get the better of Neela, though one day Neela hoped she'd be able to see through them.

"That was dirty," Neela told Blake trying to hide that she was impressed.

"If that was dirty, then I'm not so sure that you're ready for Beacon," Blake replied with a chuckle.

"I'll miss you," Eliana told her mother.

"I'll miss you too Elli. Just remember, no matter what happens, I'm proud of you, and I know your father is too," Violet told her. Elli nodded, then rejoined Blake and Neela. The girls gathered up the bags and climbed onto the ship, other students surrounding them, saying their goodbyes as well to their parents and other loved ones as they prepared to head out to Beacon and begin their new lives. Eliana set her bags down near the window and stacked them up, leaping onto them and sitting comfortably as she stared out into the ocean. She smiled as she gestured for Neela to join her and she pointed out at the vast waters.

"Think about it!" Eliana exclaimed. "Soon we'll be on our way to the greatest adventure ever. Our first steps to becoming huntresses! Great ones at that! Team STRQ went to Beacon! And JNPR, and CFVY, and let's not forget the most important team ever…" Neela shook her head and rolled her eyes as she leaned against the wall next to Eliana. Blake squeezed Neela's shoulder before continuing to the front of the ship.

"Team RWBY," Neela offered monotone and sarcastically. Eliana shook her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"Yes! Why are you not excited?! Or did you forget that your parents make up half of that team?!" Eliana asked her. Neela turned away and stared out the window.

"Don't get me wrong, saving the world from Salem was no small feat, but I'm sick of people always seeing me as the daughter of half of Team RWBY. 'Look at Neela, her greatness is in her name! Of course, she'll be amazing!' It sucks! I want people to meet me and see a girl who has tried her hardest and struggled to get here just like everyone else. I don't want people to expect me to be great, I want them to know that I earned it," Neela explained. Eliana nodded, dropping off of her perch and throwing her right arm over Neela.

"I know…" Eliana reassured her. "But still, your aunt is Ruby Rose… Ah! I can't get over that!" Neela chuckled, shaking her head again.

"It's pretty cool I guess," Neela agreed.

"You guess?!" Eliana scoffed. The platform retracted slowly and the airship roared to life, slowly climbing into the air. Eliana ran quickly to the other side, waving to her mom as the door closed and leaving her with one last afterimage of her mother waving back, smiling as she always did, even though she feared what would happen to her daughter while she was away. Eliana returned to Neela and gave her a smile, staring out at the water with her as it rippled beneath the ship, the waves slowly crashing against the concrete shoreline of Signal Academy. "Not to mention that your Aunt Weiss runs the Schnee Dust Company, and rebuilt Beacon Academy with the company's extra funds. It's impressive that the school was only shut down for seven years after the attack."

If Neela stepped out of herself and looked at the bigger picture, yes, she could see how absolutely amazing all of it was. Her mothers had fought with her aunts to bring down Cinder, Salem, and countless other major threats, which had placed Remnant into another period of peace. They had known Ozpin, the great wizard who had sacrificed himself to help them defeat Salem. Her parents were still relatively good friends with everyone that attended the school with them. Ruby was now the greatest huntress in all of Remnant, presiding at the head of the Remnant Peace Council. Weiss was president of Schnee Dust and provided her and Eliana with all of the Dust ammo that they could possibly ever need. Blake now worked at Beacon as assistant to the Headmistress, and Yang worked there full time as a close quarters combat instructor. Even after their glory days, they were still finding ways to continue their work and make Remnant a better place.

But all of that faded and Neela remembered that all of those things that were amazing about her family is how she was defined. _Isn't your Aunt Ruby the greatest huntress to ever live? Didn't your mothers take down the White Fang? You're the niece of Weiss Schnee, President of the Schnee Dust Company._ All she wanted at this point was to be seen as who she really was. _Aren't you Neela Xiao Long, the greatest archer to grace Vale?_ That's why she couldn't help but be madly in love with Eliana. Eliana saw her for who she truly was. Her own person.

"So, the trip lasts for about 15 – 20 minutes from what I've heard!" Eliana exclaimed breaking the silence in Neela's head. "Soon we'll be able to see Beacon, the greatest school in all of Remnant!" Neela laughed.

"Beacon this! Beacon that! You better hope that they have a gift shop!" Neela exclaimed. Eliana laughed and shoved her.

"I hope they do, I'm excited!" She exclaimed.

"I've noticed!" Neela offered in return. She glanced around at the other students. Most of them must have gotten on in Vale before the ship made its stop out at Patch, Neela only recognized a few of her classmates, but they weren't ones that she had ever talked to or associated with. A sound activated behind them, a jingle of sorts, which caused them to turn and face the opposite wall, a graphic for Vale News Network lit up across the wall before disappearing. It was replaced with Lisa Lavender's image.

"Good morning enrollees for Beacon Academy. Thank you for flying Vale Airships and please take a moment to make yourselves more aware of the world around you by listening to this newscast that was designed specifically for this flight. Beacon Academy strives to make its students better people by making them take notice of the issues that may soon affect all of you. Here are the latest happenings around both the City and Kingdom of Vale." The image flickered, displaying the man that Neela and Eliana had run into in the city the night before.

"Hey! That's…" Eliana exclaimed. Neela clamped her hand over her mouth.

"Shhhh! Listen!" Neela scolded her.

"A criminal known only as Orion was spotted last night robbing several dust shops in Vale and raking in a rather large sum of lien. If anyone has seen this man or knows of his whereabouts, please do not try and confront him as he is extremely dangerous. Local authorities are asking that you call the number at the bottom of the screen and they will take it from there. Orion is believed to be a high ranking member of an organization run by none other than Mercury Black. If anyone has details on Mr. Black, they are also asked to contact the number below and avoid confronting him as well." The image flickered once more, showing a video feed of Faunus delaying a parade.

"Last week during the Vale Fall Festival, an organized group of Faunus protested during the citywide parade and caused havoc, standing in the middle of the road and blocking the parade route. While the initial demonstration was one that could be considered peaceful by most, it begs the question as to whether or not the White Fang has rebanded after nearly 10 years, and whether or not they intend to become violent once more. This protest comes only weeks after the Remnant Peace Council ruled that businesses and services, as well as schools, cannot discriminate against Faunus, the first pro-Faunus law to be introduced and enforced since the Faunus War." The news feed died and Neela spotted Blake watching from near the pilot's seat, her eyes wide as she shakily reached for the scroll in her bag to call Yang. She seemed to fumble with it for a moment before she finally brought it up to her ear.

"Is your mom okay?" Eliana asked. Before Neela could reply, the screen lit up again, this time a 3D hologram of an older looking woman appeared.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!" She announced. Eliana grabbed Neela's shoulder and leapt up and down.

"It's Glynda Goodwitch!" Eliana exclaimed.

"I am the Headmistress of Beacon Academy, Glynda Goodwitch."

"I knew it!" Eliana yelled.

"Shhhh!" Neela hushed her again.

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is once again experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world. So all of the staff and myself would like to congratulate you on your accomplishments and determination to make it this far, and we welcome you to Beacon." Glynda's hologram disappeared and Neela looked around, noting that at some point during the speech, Eliana had moved to the other side of the aircraft again. She pointed out the window and ushered Neela over.

"Signal! And you can already see Beacon from here too! Two separate worlds, yet so close!" Eliana exclaimed. Neela watched for several long minutes as the airship crept closer to the school and a wave of anxiety and unbridled excitement swept over her. Her body trembled at the idea that she was no longer going to be safe at home on Patch with Yang, Blake, and Shadow every day. Here she would get done with school, maybe have an after-school job, and return to her dorm with her teammates so that she could discuss training strategies and homework assignments. Despite the fact that both of her mothers worked at Beacon, she was still, more or less, on her own now. She had to decide how she would spend her time. She would decide when to call it a night. She would get to choose whether or not she slept in on Saturdays.

She'd have Eliana with her, that was a given, despite Blake trying to scare them and telling them that they might not be able to find each other during the initiation. Neela had begged her mother to divulge the secret to ending up on the same team together, but Blake refused to say anything to her, telling her that it might be good for her to step out of her comfort zone. That was easy for her mom to say, she wasn't the one that was going to be stuck with a group of strangers for the next four years of her life. Neela took a deep breath, she couldn't let all of this get to her. At the end of the day, she would still try just as hard to be the best she could be, no matter who she ended up with on her team.

Neela and Eliana stumbled slightly as the ship began its descent and slowed towards the cliff side. Neela could see the students rushing about, talking to each other, roughhousing, laughing, and running to get to wherever they were heading on time. Eliana grabbed Neela's arm and clung to it, causing Neela to look down at Eliana's hands before looking up at her friend again.

"What's up?" asked Neela. "You okay?" Something had changed in Eliana for a moment, it was as if she was scared.

"I'm so nervous," Eliana replied. "But I have you here, right? Why should I be nervous?" Eliana asked her. Neela smiled at Eliana.

"You shouldn't be." The door slowly swung open and they stepped off onto the walkway. "Don't be." Blake stepped off behind them and gave them a gentle shove towards the school building as she stretched and set down her bag for a moment.

"There it is," Blake told them. "Beacon Academy. I've waited for this day for such a long time, and now that it's finally here, I find it's all just a bit surreal. You'll be sitting through the same lectures that I had to endure. You'll train in the same arenas. Vytal Festival will be here before you know it! You also won't have your year cut short by any of the maidens, they all gave up their powers for the sake of stopping Salem years ago."

"Alright already," Neela told Blake chuckling as she handed her her bag. "You can let us go now. Go check in or whatever you have to do and we'll see you soon." Blake smiled softly and nodded.

"I'm proud of you Neela," Blake told her messing up her hair. Blake walked away, leaving the two of them in silence as they made their way towards the first courtyard, walking next to each other as they pulled their luggage along the path. Eliana looked around in awe at the architecture and scenery that surrounded the school. It really was like a completely separate world, Beacon had been placed high on a cliff making it the ideal location to fend off the majority of would-be attackers. The only way to access the school was via airship, and any hostile airship that approached the school would be shot down by any of the staff or students long before it would be in range to mount an offensive. The school was surrounded by woods that dropped off into the Emerald Forest, meaning any attempts to climb the cliff side would be thwarted by the Grimm below or Huntsmen or Huntresses above. Beacon had never been breached with the exception of the attack by Cinder.

"Just think! Any of these students here could be our teammates by the end of the week!" Eliana exclaimed. "Some have swords, guns, spears, maces… is that a hair dryer? Neela, look! That guy has a boom box for a weapon!" Neela continued towards the tower and left Eliana a few steps behind her. "Neela! Wait up!"

A girl with black track pants and matching sneakers turned around to face towards them, the shouting of Neela's name drew her attention. She wore a brown long sleeve shirt, the right sleeve had been removed and she wore a white athletic sleeve instead, both arms had wrist tape that wrapped around the outside of the hand and around the thumb. A black beanie with the word 'warrior' across it in white font completed her look. She watched as Eliana stood in the middle of the courtyard, calling out to Neela as she gathered her belongings back up and chased after her. She smirked through gritted teeth as she felt her tonfas at her sides, one holstered on each hip.

She looked Neela over and she was overcome with excitement. The other students had told her that Neela was the one that everyone would have to struggle to keep up with. Neela was the one who was going to set the bar higher than any of them had ever tried to reach before. The girl scoffed at all of it. She'd prove herself once and for all to start the year off, tearing down Neela's bar and setting her own. Now was a better chance and venue than any other.

"Neela Xiao Long!" The girl called out. Neela stopped for a moment, her shoulders tensing before she glanced over her shoulder to look at the girl.

"You know her?" Eliana asked. Neela maintained eye contact with the student before turning away and continuing towards the tower.

"No," Neela replied.

"Neela!" The girl called out again. She ran out into the middle of the courtyard, catching glances from nearby students watching as things unfolded. "I've heard stories about you! They tell me that you're the best that Vale has to offer!" The girl smirked as she adjusted her cap. "I'm the best Mistral has to offer!"

"So?" Neela called back. The girl looked around at the gathering crowd and threw her hands out, shrugging her shoulders in a mocking fashion.

"'So?' 'So?' What do you mean so? I want to take you on! Prove that you're the best, and I'll let you keep the title!" She called out to Neela. Neela set her bag down and turned completely around.

"What are you talking about, who are you anyway?!" Neela asked as she started to walk back towards her. The girl laughed and she looked around at the crowd, pleased with its growing numbers. This would solidify her spot as the ultimate Huntress at Beacon.

"I am the Maniac of Mistral! I've won more bar fights and underground street brawls than you can possibly imagine sweetheart. My birth name is Tawney Lupara, and I aim to be the best at this school. So, are we gonna fight, or are you conceding that I'm better than you?" Tawney asked. She removed her tonfas and spun them in her hands. "Look at me now, the Brawler of Beacon!" Neela shook her head and returned to Eliana, picking her bags up again.

"I don't have time for this nonsense," Neela shouted back.

"So you're willing to let these people think that I scared the great Neela Xiao Long into a forfeit?!" Neela froze, a chill ran through her body at the thought of forfeiting to this girl. "The Maniac wins by default then! A win's a win no matter how it comes!"

"No!" Neela yelped before she could stop herself. Neela looked at the students, all of their eyes fixed on her. She had to beat this girl, or at least try. She wanted them to see her as more, as someone who could be looked towards in times of need. She had no choice. This pleased Tawney even more and she cracked her knuckles, bouncing lightly on her feet. Neela glanced over at Eliana who gave her a subtle smile.

"I'll watch your bags. Go kick her ass," Eliana told her. Neela smirked as she handed her luggage off to Eliana and moved back to the courtyard, the mass now moving towards the outside, giving them as much room as possible to fight, they had formed a circle around the girls.

"I've waited a long time for this moment Neela. I just want you to remember this beating when we graduate and they say that I was the top of our class and that no one could beat the Maniac!" Tawney pulled her shirt off over her head, revealing her toned abs and black sports bra, her shirt took her beanie with it. She had short light brown hair that was nearly a buzz cut on the bottom, pulled back into a small simple bun. The sunlight glinted off of her copper-colored eyes as she slowly circled Neela who removed her bow. She grabbed the grip and quickly pulled back on it, the two limbs closed together swiftly to form the blade and the grip became the sword's grip, the sights fixed between the grip and blade. She held it loosely in her right hand as Tawney lightly gripped her tonfas.

"Well, show me what you've got," Neela spoke after a moment. Tawney charged in hard and Neela took a deep breath in, activating her semblance as Tawney moved in with alarming speed. The moment drew out for a long moment as Tawney defended with her left arm, swinging her right arm beneath it. Neela swung her sword down, effectively blocking the blow, but Tawney fired her left tonfa which doubled as half of a shotgun, giving it a considerable amount of kick. The force jerked Tawney's body counterclockwise quickly and gave her enough extra power to knock Neela's sword out of her hands. There was a gasp as Tawney swung around with her left fist, hoping to catch Neela off guard, but it wasn't going to be a short fight like Tawney hoped. Neela had leapt back, placing distance between them and activating the grapple hook on her arm. It ensnared Tawney's left arm, weapon and all, and pulled her towards Neela. Neela leapt, detaching the hook as Tawney arrived and planted her feet against Tawney's chest, kicking her and rocketing backward into a backflip. Tawney stumbled back as she watched Neela land on her hands, following through and landing upright as she snatched her sword up.

Tawney charged again as Neela moved with blinding speed, her weapon quickly becoming a bow and she loaded an arrow, firing before Tawney had closed half of the gap. The arrow exploded moments before hitting Tawney, the gravity Dust trying to throw her back, but she charged through unaffected. This startled Neela for a moment and Tawney batted her away, connecting her tonfas together and firing into Neela's back as she stumbled. The shot slammed into Neela, throwing her to the ground. Neela rolled onto her back as she landed, deflecting the next shot with her sword and redirecting it. It slammed into Tawney and she fell back onto her butt, leaping to her feet at the same time as Neela. Neela stared at her for a long moment, she tried to assess the situation so she could prepare to move in for the kill.

If she moved in, she could continue to avoid and block Tawney, but Tawney would outlast her, the girl seemed as though she had been designed for endurance and overpowering. She'd probably find an opening and use brute force to pry it open, hammering away until there was nothing left. Neela could outmaneuver her for a while, but if she grew tired, it would only take one solid blow to give Tawney an advantage. She could put distance between the two of them, but the same held true for that strategy. Tawney would most likely fire everything she had until it was too much for Neela to handle. Neela would have to bait her, and then finish her off when Tawney would be off guard, convinced that it's over.

They charged each other again, Neela meeting a series of blows with blocks from her sword as Tawney swung harder and harder, determined to find an opening, but it was no use, Neela was better than she could have expected. Neela watched and carefully moved into a submissive position, knowing that this girl would try the same attack as she had before, and the plan worked without fail. As Tawney spotted a small opening in Neela's defense she slammed her tonfas together, swinging up underneath to blast the girl in the chest. Neela threw the sword forward and as it flipped out into its bow form again, the upper limb smashed into Tawney's face. She reached up, a knee-jerk reaction to the pain, and Neela loaded an ice arrow quickly, firing it and immobilizing her enemy. Neela charged in with her sword held high and swung, it would be enough to deplete Tawney's aura.

"That's quite enough Ms. Xiao Long!" A commanding voice declared. Neela found herself suspended a few inches from Tawney, unable to move, her sword in mid-swing. Neela immediately recognized the woman who stopped beside the two of them as Glynda Goodwitch, the Headmistress of the school. She held her switch out towards both of them, using her semblance to keep either of them from moving. "If the two of you would like to face off, you will only do so on school grounds in one of the designated arenas, and the battle will be monitored closely. This goes for you as well Ms. Lupara. Do I make myself clear?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am," Tawney agreed reluctantly as the ice shattered and Neela dropped to her feet. Glynda looked out at the rest of the students who groaned and murmured.

_It was just getting good._

_Why did she have to ruin all of the fun?_

_When will we get to see another girl fight like that?!_

"That goes for the rest of you as well!" She declared. "Now all of you please finish checking in so that we can commence with the opening ceremonies and other boring traditions that none of the rest of you will care about." Glynda walked past without so much as another word and Blake followed closely behind. She gave Neela a stern look but had no time to stop as Glynda was clearly set on the next matter at hand. Tawney held out a reluctant hand and Neela looked at it for a long moment before looking back up at her opponent.

"You're good Neela, I'll give you that. Next time you won't be as lucky as to have Headmistress Goodwitch interfere in the match," Tawney told her. Neela scoffed before chuckling and shaking the girl's hand, turning away and rejoining Eliana who stood in absolute awe. Tawney slipped her shirt back on and pulled her cap snug, heading towards the tower with the rest of the students that had gathered. Tawney was grateful that the Headmistress had stepped in, but now that she had seen Neela in action, she would win next time.

"That was amazing!" Eliana declared. "Just amazing! You blow my mind every time I watch you fight!"

"I don't know if I would've called that fight amazing. She got way more hits on me than she should have," Neela told her as she picked up her suitcases once more and started towards the tower again. Sometimes she felt like Eliana gave her more credit than she was due.

"It was! You totally had her at the end there!" Eliana told her. Neela smiled at her friend's confidence in her and looked up at the top of the tower. "Crazy to think that this place was in complete ruins almost fifteen years ago. I wonder what that fight was like. I hear that there was a Dragon Grimm or something similar that had taken out the tower. I can only imagine what it must have been like to fight that thing."

"Yeah, Blake says that it dripped some kind of slime or blood or something and that more Grimm spawned from it," Neela told her. Eliana looked at her in disbelief.

"No way!" Eliana exclaimed. Neela laughed.

"I'm serious! You can ask her the next time we see her," Neela said.

"Who finished it off anyway?" Eliana pried.

"Yang says that they all finished it off together, but I don't know who landed the killing blow. I'm guessing it was my 'amazing' Aunt Ruby," Neela laughed. She turned to smile at Eliana but noticed that she had lost her again and looked back to see her friend staring back at the cliffside. Eliana's eyes were fixed on something and Neela moved towards her.

"Is that your aunt?" Eliana asked. "Why else would there be an Atlesian Warship here?" Neela shrugged as she squinted into the distance.

"I don't know, but we really need to go check in." Eliana turned back towards Neela and nodded.

"Right!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The students begin to arrive at the school and it would seem that we already have threats to Neela's assumed claim to the top spot. Next week, the arrival of Titus and Ilia in Chapter 4 - The Militant and The Runaway!
> 
> A special thanks once again to my co-creator OrganoidZero.
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, have a happy holiday, a Merry Christmas, and stay classy!


	8. The Militant and The Runaway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Titus arrives and determines to be the very best (like no one ever was), but his troubles begin as a mischievous girl begins harassing him.

"If it's what you think is best, I'll take it in stride, but I don't understand why you would want to send me away from Atlas Academy," Titus explained as the airship slowly descended and made its landing along the side of the cliff. Winter stood slowly and guided him off, stepping off with him and adjusting his suit as he balanced himself, bag slung over his left arm. He wore the same uniform that Ironwood had worn years ago, with the exception of the red tie and white glove. Winter had allowed Titus to add a black cape, as he felt the uniform was missing that "something extra". He wore his green hair slicked back, his red eyes following birds that drifted past the tower.

"I don't  _want_  to send you away, I just think that you'll get a better overall education and training here at Beacon," she informed him. He stood at attention, looking over the top of her head at the school. It looked to be much larger than Atlas, but less organized, as he watched students chasing after each other, no uniformity to be found in their clothing either.

"Do they even have uniforms at this school?" He asked. Winter gave a stiff laugh and handed his swords to him. He nodded at her in thanks and sheathed them on each hip.

"I'll have you know that Weiss, President of the Schnee Dust Company, my sister mind you, attended Beacon Academy. And to answer your question, you'll be receiving your uniform by the end of the week. They may seem a little disorganized at times, but rest assured that this is one of the best schools that Remnant has to offer. Team RWBY attended this institute in addition to Pyrrha Nikos, who was one of the greatest Huntresses of her time," Winter explained to him. "I can understand if you're nervous Titus, it's really a normal feeling when these sort of things come about. Leaving your family, leaving Atlas, meeting new people, all of those things can create anxiety. Just keep trying your hardest and you'll make all of us at Atlas proud."

"It isn't any of that," he explained. She tilted her head slightly.

"What is it then?" She asked him.

"They all seem so juvenile. The fact that I have to train with the likes of these… children." He explained. She looked at the ground towards his boots for a long moment, before looking back up into his eyes. He looked down from the tower and met her gaze. She heard it now, the same over-inflated ego and flawed vain self-perception that Weiss had told her that every Atlas graduate shared.

"Exactly why Weiss wanted you to attend," She offered under her breath, inaudible to him. "Titus, just because these students know how to enjoy themselves, doesn't mean that they aren't disciplined on the battlefield. I think you'll come to find out that Huntsmen and Huntresses come in all varieties. Please, try and enjoy yourself while you are here." He knew she was right. Not all Huntsmen and Huntresses were the same. Some were better than others.  **He**  was better than the others.

"If that's what you want General Branwen, I'll do it for you." They nodded at each other and she stepped next to him so that they were shoulder to shoulder, facing in opposite directions.

"Do it for yourself, Titus." She nodded slightly again. "As you were Prasinos." She proceeded back onto her airship and Titus turned, watching it as it flew away and disappeared into the distance. He took a deep breath in and made his way towards the tower, assuming that it would be the best place to start amidst the chaos. A few of the other students stopped momentarily as he strode past them. He had no intention of introducing himself to any of them and didn't really care to know their names. He stopped in the middle of the first courtyard, staring up at the tower once again. Beacon Tower, it had once fallen under the attack planned by Salem and Cinder many years ago, when he was still just a child. Beacon would not fall again, not as long as he had a say in the matter.

The fall wind blew through the courtyard, tossing the leaves off of nearby trees and scattering them across the pathway. It chilled him for a moment and brought back memories of living in Mantle. He shuddered for a moment at the thought. In a few years, he'd be a full-blown Huntsman, and his family would have the life that they always dreamed of. The leaves crunched under his boots as he continued towards the tower once again. This was it, his first steps towards the last years of his training. He'd take them in stride, and all of Beacon would know the name Titus Prasinos. He was the best, and there was no way it could be disputed.

He stopped at the second courtyard, a statue stood in the middle. The members of RWBY stood back to back, all facing a different direction, all of them in battle poses, ready to attack.

"Before the statue of Team RWBY stood there, we had a statue of warriors from the Great War," someone spoke to him as they stopped beside him staring at the statue. "At the time of the Great War, each kingdom truly believed that they were the best warriors, but they soon came to find out that such a mindset would only bring about pain and destruction. They needed to come together under the idea that no matter who was truly the strongest, they could achieve an even greater strength if they worked together." She smiled at him and extended her hand. "Headmistress Goodwitch. You must be Mr. Prasinos. I've heard only amazing things about you and can't wait to see what you're truly capable of." He reached out and shook her hand.

"Thank you, Headmistress. I'll do my best," he replied. Glynda continued on her way with Blake still on her heels, trying to lecture her on what needed to get done before she gave the opening speech. Titus watched the two of them walk away for a moment before what she had told him had finally sunk in. Only through cooperation with his team would he be able to be as great as he wanted them to be? Maybe there was a truth to that, but at the moment, from the looks of his peers fooling off around him, he was more afraid that he'd be dragging his team to victory. He shook his head. Why couldn't they let him stay at Atlas?

He walked around the statue and quickly jogged up the stairs, reaching the top and looking back down the path towards the cliff. The school was so secluded, so free of danger. Though the initial idea of coming here may have seemed like a worst-case scenario, he decided that he would make the best of it. The dorms were less than a few blocks from the campus and the tower, which would give him plenty of time to train and study with little distractions. And while he was sure that there was no shortage of women to choose from on the school grounds, bettering himself came first. There would be no time for romancing or being romanced. He returned his thoughts to the current objective after a long moment and entered the tower, disappointed at what he found.

What he had witnessed just moments ago outside of the building was nothing short of a disorganized mess, but what he stepped into inside was an entirely new and even more chaotic happening. There were tables set up, labeled for each year of students to go to and find out where they needed to be next, but the kids were packed into the building so tight it was almost suffocating to think about. Titus pulled at his collar as he let the door close behind him and slowly made his way to the 1st year table. His saving grace at that moment was the fact that he was a little over six feet tall, and was able to see over the majority of the crowd. He bumped through students who had already been helped and were simply striking up conversations. Was there not a better place for them to do so? Surely anything that they were talking about was purely trivial and could wait at least until they made it to the cafeteria or the commons area.

As Titus reached the table, a girl who was being helped spun around and ran directly into him. The light glinted off of her green eyes and she took off in a flurry, leaving him with a view of purple hair scattering about as he watched her take off without apologizing.

"Neela! I just ran into somebody! Wait up!" The girl called out after her friend. He watched her walk away, still in disbelief until the woman sitting behind the table called out to him.

"I can help you, sir," she told him. He turned back around to face her and offered her a smile which she returned. She was a brunette, her eyes pink and kind. She wore a white blouse. She looked very friendly.

"Are you a huntress?" He asked. She laughed and took his application, looking it over before opening a filing cabinet under the table and thumbing through for his file.

"As a matter of fact I am," she replied. "If you can believe it, sometimes looking cute and innocent can really give you the upper hand in battle." He was caught in her eyes until she cleared her throat. He looked down, gently taking the files from her hands and chuckling lightly.

"I'd believe it," he replied. "What's all of this?"

"The top page is a map. Learn it, love it, live it. The next page is your schedule for the first semester. The next couple of pages after that is a little bit on the history of Remnant and the schools, and the last page will detail your itinerary for the rest of today and tomorrow," she explained to him. He thumbed through the pages and smiled at her nodding.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Welcome to Beacon. We're glad to have you." He left back the way he came and stepped back outside, inhaling deeply once again. Maybe he'd get used to it here.  _Maybe this could become a home away from home._

"Hey! Tall, handsome, and Atlas! Have a moment?!" Called out a girl's voice. He tensed up.  _Or not._ He turned around to face the girl that had called him and discovered his worst fears had come true. Some rebellious punk wanted his assistance for some reason. He smirked slightly. Maybe this wasn't a bad thing. Of course, they'd come to him for help, he was from Atlas after all, and that made him the best of the best. She wore black knee high boots with a pair of blue jeans that hung loosely on her hips. She wore a white one piece that had one thick strap that slung over her left shoulder. Her left forearm had words tattooed all the way from the elbow to the wrist, her right arm tattooed with a Sea Dragon Grimm that wrapped around her arm, its tail starting at the inside of her wrist and it's head stopping on the front of her shoulder. On her right shoulder blade, she had a Beowolf tattooed, howling into the air.

Her black hair was in a ponytail, but still long enough that it came down to the middle of her back. Her blue eyes drew in her usual prey, no doubt, but it was going to take her more than a few looks of longing to fool him.

"May I help you?" He asked. She stopped in front of him and took him in. She chuckled, walking her long finger up his chest before coming to a stop at his chin.

"I think you're just the kind of man I'm looking for," she told him. He pulled his jaw away and took a step back, but this didn't seem to deter her. She cocked her hip, resting her right hand on it.

"I'm not looking for anything like that," he reassured her. Her face twisted slightly as she held back a laugh before losing it. She bent over, laughing hard as she wiped tears from her eyes. He didn't understand what she found so funny.

"You don't get out much do you? Either that or you're just extremely presumptuous," she told him in between her cackling and catching her breath. "Wait, you didn't really think…" She looked at him for a moment as she stopped laughing and he gave her a bewildered stare. "Oh God, you did, didn't you? Oh no, I'm so sorry. I just wondered if you had a map. It would seem that when I stepped into the restroom, some douchebag came by and stole my papers. I'll probably have to go back in and get another, but I just wanted to glance at someone's map quick to get an idea of where to go for food." He was slightly embarrassed. Why would he think that she was suggesting such a thing?

"Of course," he told her apologetically. "Here." He stepped to her and held the map out, showing it to her. She glanced over at him, looking him over again before returning her eyes to the map.

"But maybe once we get settled in if you still want to go a few rounds in the sack…" He slid away from her as he felt her grab his ass, he blushed immediately. She doubled over in laughter again, completely losing it. "Oh God! I'm so sorry! You are just too easy to mess with!" His eyes became narrow as he filled with rage.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" He demanded. She regained her composure and shrugged.

"Listen… Titus was it?" She asked.

"Yes." He froze for a moment.

"The shorter list might be what's not wrong with me," she told him. He gave her a curious look that rewarded her with a moment of pause as she realized what had happened.

"I never told you my name," he said slowly, trying to figure her out. She smiled and tossed his wallet back to him.

"You got me. I grabbed it quickly and looked it over while I was laughing at you. Hope you won't be needing this." She held his credit card up above her head as she sprinted past him towards the dorms.

"Hey!" He shouted. He took off after her without wasting a single moment, chasing her as they weaved down the crowded sidewalk that led back towards the campus. He assumed that she was heading to the cafeteria, but figured that she was at least smart enough to try and throw him off of her trail. He brushed past people, apologizing as he barreled through some. Where was the staff at this school? Was there no one taking notice of this chase and noting that it should be stopped? He slammed through the cafeteria doors a few moments behind her, finding that the mess hall was in the same shape as the tower, packed from wall to wall. He came to a complete stop and glanced at the mass.

"Have you seen a girl with a few tattoos? She came running in here just a few seconds ago!" He called out. The students in the immediate area looked at him as though he was crazy and shook their heads. He moved further in and asked again, only to be greeted with the same confusion and head shakes. He began to move further in before bumping into a student that was roughly the same size as him. He pushed Titus back and Titus threw his hands out. "It was an accident, calm down."

"Don't tell me what to do!" The kid thundered back. "Look at this kid! Thinks he's better than the rest of us, just because he's from Atlas!" Titus shook his head, hands still raised.

"I never said that!" Titus shouted back.

"You didn't have to Titus, we all know that's how you losers from the north think!" The kid yelled again. Titus cocked his head. The kid's eyes grew wide looking back at Titus. "Dammit, I used your name again, didn't I?" The body hit the floor and there stood Ilia with his card still clutched in her hand. She chuckled and shrugged. "No hard feelings?"

"I don't think so," he told her holding his hand out for the card. She slapped his hand away and spun her body, kicking him in the left side where his ribs met his back. He stumbled away as she scrambled off again. All of the students watched in confusion as Titus looked out at them.  _She's forcing me into looking weak and she's making me out to be an asshole!_  He tore through them, spotting her running across the grass field that separated the cafeteria from the paths around the dorms. He quickly removed his kopides and slammed them into the ground, a shockwave tearing through the earth and caging the girl in a rock barrier. He slowly made his way towards her, knowing that he had her where he needed her. All that was left to do was to take back his card and contact Headmistress Goodwitch. This girl had clearly ended up here by mistake.

As Titus made his last few steps towards the dome and sheathed his blades, the dome shattered apart and she stood there, chest huffing as she glanced around paranoid. Titus noted an SMG attached to the bottom of each forearm so that they were fastened similar to tonfas, which must have hung from the hips of her pants before, but he hadn't noticed. She flicked her wrists inward, causing the trigger handles to drop down beside the guns and extend a two-foot-long blade from the end of each.

"Dammit! What the hell was that!?" She screamed. She spotted him and looked down at her weapons. She reached over towards each elbow and undid the straps, letting them fall to the ground as she sat in the middle of them. She held his card out to him and buried her head in her free hand. He took it from her and looked around her, trying to get a better view of her face. She glanced up at him, picking up her weapons and reattaching them to her hips. She leapt up. "What the hell are you looking at?! You want me to say I'm sorry? Is that it? Sure, fine, I'm sorry. Happy?!"

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"No. Screw you, I don't owe you an explanation." He scoffed. She was impossible.

"You're right, you don't. But if you tell me, it might make the trip to the Headmistress's office a bit less awkward," He told her. He grabbed her arm.

"You're not taking me there!" She exclaimed. She wrenched away and began walking away. "That's not happening!"

"Would you prefer being in my rock trap again?" He asked. She gritted her teeth. "What's your name anyway?" She walked back to him and folded her arms before gesturing back towards the campus.

"Lead the way… Titus," she told him. He looked at her before shaking his head in disbelief. He had never met anyone has hard headed as her, and honestly couldn't think of anything more perfect than the idea of her leaving on an airship, only to be pushed out above the middle of the ocean. It wouldn't kill her, but she would certainly learn her lesson then.

"I still don't have a name for you. A few come to mind, but I don't think that you'd care for them much," he told her. She stifled a chuckle.

"Trust me, whatever you can come up with, I was probably called worse at some point," she told him. She looked across at him. He was deep in thought and she shook her head. "Ilia. Ilia Cherny. Really though, we don't have to do this. Can't we just pretend that this never happened? I can show you a good time." She told him. He shot her disgusted look and she chuckled once again. "You really don't go for that at all, do you? I mean, your still human, and I'm sure you've gone through puberty since it looks like you've got a nick on your chin from shaving. High school guys are nothing but raging hormones, so let me guess, guys are your thing…"

"No!" He yelled stopping. She also stopped, his eyes intense and piercing. If looks were able to kill someone, Ilia would have been murdered on the spot. He was so serious and so intense. Why couldn't he try and lighten up just a bit?

"Methinks you protest too much," She stated sheepishly. He groaned and picked up the pace, forcing her to jog after him. "No?"

"So, what was with the panic attack back there?" He asked trying to change the subject.

"Deflection, I like it," she replied. He stopped again and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Why do you care so much? Why does it matter if I don't care for women in a sexual way? Does that rub you the wrong way, that there might be one guy out there that's naturally immune to your tricks? Do you like for people the think of you as a whore?" He asked. She shook free, trying to shove him away but he didn't budge.

"Why does it matter that I had a panic attack back there?!" She demanded. "I was trying to make small talk, you dick! Maybe I have problems that I don't need people knowing about! Did you think about that?!" He began walking towards the administrations building again.

"Maybe I do too," he muttered under his breath. She chased after him once more until he finally led her into Glynda's secondary office, throwing the door open without waiting for a reply. "Please, for the love of God, get her away from me!" Glynda glanced up from her paperwork, as did Blake who stood alongside her reviewing a few last minute changes to one of the forms that needed to be filled out by the students at the end of their first week.

"I don't know how things work in Atlas, but would you mind knocking before you let yourself into my office Titus?" Glynda asked giving him a stern look. He flushed, suddenly feeling very embarrassed at his behavior. The last ten minutes of his day had been the most undignified moments of his life and he was ashamed. Beacon had already pulled him down to its level and dragged him through the mud. He trembled slightly as he focused on the floor in front of her desk. The tile pattern distracted him for a moment, just long enough for him to find the words to offer as an excuse.

"I'm sorry Headmistress. It'll never happen again. This girl… Ilia… She pickpocketed my wallet and stole my card. I chased her down and took it back, but I was hoping that you'd see to it that she gets what she deserves," Titus explained. Glynda nodded.

"I see. Thank you, Titus. I can take it from here." Glynda reassured him. He nodded and left the room, leaving the two women with Ilia who took the wooden seat across from Glynda's desk.

"Please, Ms. Goodwitch. Hear me out. I know that my name isn't on…" Ilia began.

"Ilia Cherny was it?" Glynda asked. Ilia looked up at her, perplexed as the woman stood. "I'm glad that you stopped by, I meant to come and find you. I have to say that I was impressed with your entrance exam results and I was equally impressed with your application."

"What…" Ilia began but was cut off. She glanced over at Blake who was smiling and nodded towards Glynda.

"Of course! There's always room for improvement, but I have to say after looking at your transcripts that Shade Academy sent over, I think that you'll fit in just fine here. Any other questions?" Glynda asked. She walked around her desk and Ilia stood, still not entirely sure of what just happened.

"I don't know what's going on here, to be honest," Ilia told her. "I never filled out an-"

"It's my way of telling you welcome to Beacon," Glynda reassured her. Glynda opened the door and Ilia stepped back out into the hallway. "Oh, and please stop pickpocketing your classmates." Glynda offered her a smile before shoving a folder into her chest and slamming the door close. Ilia stood motionless for a long moment, staring hard at the door before opening the folder. She brushed over the files, noting the map, schedule, and other packets, the same as all the other students had received. She shrugged as she shoved the contents back in and made her way towards the grand hall, where they would take the first roll call and give the welcome speech. She chuckled. Or she could head to the mess hall and enjoy lunch. The latter sounded far more appealing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems that Titus and Ilia are off to a rough start with each other. Hopefully, they can mend things before they end up together on Team NITE. Next week, fan service, alcohol, and plot advancement meet in Chapter 5 - Barfights and Nosebleeds!
> 
> A special thanks once again to my co-creator OrganoidZero.
> 
> Until next week, have a happy and safe new year, and stay classy!


	9. Bar Fights and Nosebleeds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliana and Neela attend the opening ceremony before Eliana decides to hit the showers in the locker room, and the women of Beacon have a run in with Orion during their ladies' night.

Neela and Eliana filed into the Great Hall as the rest of the first year students poured in around them and Neela started to feel her anxiety acting up again as her mind recalled a similar event where the White Fang had all been gathered together for a meeting and the Atlesian Army attacked. The army had bottlenecked the entire group and picked them off as they tried to escape, her parents had barely managed to pull her out of the incident alive. Or at least, it was the parents that had given her life and kept her safe. Everything that they had taught her was fear driven towards humans, and for a long time, she had been terrified of them for no reason. To the White Fang, the Atlas Army might as well have been the model for the standard human.

It was similar to how the world must have felt after the Fall of Beacon. Just because the White Fang had been the ones behind the attack, all of humanity was subconsciously programmed to assume that all Faunus meant them harm, but that wasn't the case at all. Neela had a hard time believing that she ever could have been so narrow-minded, but it really wasn't something that she could help. From her birth, until the time that she was rescued by her mothers, she had been taught that fearing the human race was nothing more than instinct. She chuckled at how quickly Yang had broken her of that fear, but Blake had told her time after time that Yang had a habit of driving a point home until it stuck.

Neela looked at Eliana who stood beside her, slowly taking in the sights and sounds of everything going on around her. The girl was in awe and it left Neela with a warm feeling inside of her that she didn't quite understand. Eliana Latherus, the daughter of a heroic police officer from Mistral who had given his life in the line of duty, barely seventeen but built like a woman where it counted, had stolen her heart. A human! Never could she ever had imagined that she would be madly in love with a human before leaving the White Fang. She owed so much to her mothers for saving her. She owed _everything_ to them for saving her. Eliana caught Neela staring at her, clearly spacing out, her mind several hundreds of miles away.

"Hey," Eliana said tilting her head slightly. "Man, you are a little on the spacey side today Neela!" Neela smiled and gave her a playful shove.

"It's just so surreal, you know? It's almost like we're in a dream," Neela told her. "Ever since I was old enough to fight and train with Yang and Blake, they've told me how going to Beacon had an impact on the rest of their lives. Now we're here, and it's just as amazing as they described it. I really hope that we end up on the same team together." Eliana scoffed and shook her head.

"Don't be ridiculous! Of course we'll be on the same team together!" Eliana declared. Eliana looked out around her again before gripping Neela's arm tight and quickly moving to the other side of her. "There!" Eliana pointed at the tall male student who was clearly a transfer from Atlas Academy.

"What about him?" Neela asked.

"He's the one that I ran into when you left me behind at the registration table!" Eliana exclaimed. Neela looked him over as he set his bag down for a moment and focused on the stage, looking over the papers he had been given and feeling the back of his pants, as though he was making sure that he still had his wallet or scroll on him.

"You want to go introduce yourself a little more properly?" Neela asked. Eliana pulled Neela around, turning her friend to face her.

"Are you nuts?!" Eliana asked. "I was super embarrassed! I think if I can just avoid him for the next four years that would be the best case scenario." Neela laughed at her friend and hugged her tight. Eliana struggled in her grip.

"You're too nervous. Try and relax a bit," Neela told her.

"I'm trying, but I'm not really sure if you're hugging me or trying to strangle me," Eliana breathed. She pushed back and Neela let go, causing Eliana to stumble away and into another student. He caught her by the shoulders and helped her keep her balance and she took a few deep breaths, refusing to look up at him. She was sure that she was a bright red, blushing from bumping into yet another stranger. Eliana wanted nothing more in that moment than to disappear… or maybe to wake up back in her bed at Patch and find out that she was just having an incredibly awkward dream! Had Neela done it on purpose? Eliana acknowledged the fact that she was still motionless, and he was still holding her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" He asked. She trembled slightly, torn between keeping her face hidden and looking up at him. She tried to answer him, but couldn't get the words to come out. Neela finally approached the two of them, laughing hard. Eliana glanced up at her, her face bright red, and shook her head, shaking free and stepping away from the boy. Eliana moved back to her bags and sat on them, watching as Glynda took the stage and had a few final words with Blake. Neela stuck her hand out for the student to shake. He looked at it for a long moment.

"She's fine. I'm Neela Xiao Long. Nice to meet you," Neela told him. Eliana was far friendlier than Neela without a doubt, but for whatever reason, Eliana always locked up around new people, especially when she was embarrassed. Neela didn't care much for new people either, but she knew that there was a good chance she might have to work with him in the future and decided to make the most of the situation.

"Lykos," he replied without shaking her hand. He was barefoot and wore brown tanned hide pants. Despite not wearing a shirt which revealed that he was rather built, he wore a Beowolf pelt, the top jaw resting on top of his head, and the rest of its body flowing behind him. He had dark eyes that might as well had been black, and had red and black war paint smeared across his chest and face. Neela noted the hilt attached to his left hip, but it appeared to be missing its blade and Neela wondered just how his weapon worked exactly. "Lykos Asimi."

"So I have to ask… How did you get a Grimm pelt? Normally their bodies dissolve when…" He raised his hand slowly and placed a finger on her lips.

"Listen." Neela turned back to the stage to find that the headmistress was beginning her speech. "And who says I killed it?" Neela glanced back at him quickly, swallowing hard and quivering at what he suggested. He smirked, nodding towards the stage again.

"Welcome students. What is Beacon? What brings students of every kind to this school to train and become the future Huntsmen and Huntresses that Remnant will trust its existence with? What brings the rich, the poor, the human, the Faunus, the strong, and the stronger together under one institute and molds them into the best warriors that Remnant has ever seen? It's a common goal, a love of everyone and everything, and a want to protect everything that is dear. If you've made it this far it means that you're ready to take these first steps towards becoming something larger than yourself. It's not fame, or fortune, or acknowledgment that drives us forward. It's the idea that you know that _you_ can make a difference in the world and then deciding to _become_ that difference.

For me it's to look out and see all of you standing before me, young minds ready to be molded and shaped into a unified force for good. To know that my efforts to this point have had a part in making sure that some of you, if not all of you, are standing alive before me today. Some of you will know this feeling too someday. To walk through a village or a city and see the smiling faces and know that you're responsible for their safety and wellbeing is something that's hard to describe, but once you feel it, you'll know truly why you became Huntsmen and Huntresses. So once again, from myself, and the entire staff here at Beacon, we'd like to welcome you, and we will do everything in our power to ensure that you see this dream through to its fulfillment.

As a reminder, dorm rooms are assigned to you with your fellow teammates, who will be assigned to you tomorrow during initiation. Lockers and changing rooms are available down the corridor from the north end of the Great Hall. There will not be any ships traveling back to Vale tonight, so please make yourselves comfortable and get to know your classmates. All of you will be sleeping in the Great Hall tonight with lights out at 2300 hours. The morning bell will sound at 0700 hours and you will have two hours to prepare before we head out to the Emerald Forest for your initiation. Please enjoy the rest of your night." With that Glynda left the stage with Blake close behind her once again.

"Well that was exciting, wasn't it?" Neela asked Lykos. She turned to find that he had disappeared and she didn't spot him anywhere. She shrugged and returned to Eliana who seemed to be lost in her thoughts. "Well Elli, how did you feel about all of that?" Neela peeked over her shoulder to see that Eliana was playing some kind of game on her scroll. Neela shook her head as Eliana acknowledged her.

"What?" Eliana asked.

"Did you catch any of that?" Neela asked her.

"No," Eliana replied dejectedly. "I mean, the first couple of words I did, but then I got kind of bored and decided to play Black Fang Frenzy instead." Neela shook her head.

"You mean the game where you run around destroying a city as a Faunus," Neela asked. Eliana looked at her with wide eyes and looked back at the scroll.

"I thought the character was just supposed to be a ninja! They aren't very subtle in their titling, are they?" Eliana asked sounding dejected. Neela chuckled.

"Not really." Neela tugged on her arm. "Come on. Let's drop our stuff off in a locker for now and then head out to the cafeteria to get some food." Eliana leapt down from her bags and picked them up, heading towards the locker rooms.

"Actually, I was hoping to get a shower in before we did anything else tonight," Eliana told Neela causing her to pause for a moment. _Shower?! No, get a hold of yourself Neela, it'll be fine._ Neela shook off the thought and chased after Eliana into the locker rooms. They picked out lockers that were next to each other and placed their gear inside before they headed into the changing room and showers. Neela froze again as she discovered that her fear was true, the school's public shower was a large room with several shower heads, nothing separating the girls from one another.

"You know what Elli? I think that maybe we should come back and shower later," Neela called out to her, not quite sure where she had disappeared to. "There are so many other girls in here right now, it's almost going to be impossible to get any water. Not to mention I'm not sure where my shampoo is. I think it might be back in my locker, maybe I should get it…" Eliana came out around the corner, stark naked and Neela felt her entire body trembling. It was a horribly nauseating feeling, as though she had stumbled upon something she had been forbidden from ever viewing, but she couldn't pull herself to look away.

"Come on Neela, you don't have anything that any of these ladies haven't seen before. And if you're worried about water and shampoo, we can share one of the shower heads, right?" Eliana asked her. Neela felt like an animal, ready to throw herself at Eliana and show her what she really thought about that idea. Eliana walked over to her and examined her face as Neela tried to maintain eye contact, which was more of a struggle than she could have imagined, Eliana's breasts were right there! Completely exposed! "Neela, are you feeling okay? Your nose is bleeding." Neela reached her finger up and dabbed the blood, looking down at it for a moment.

"I… I'm going to go sit down in the other room for a moment," Neela told her.

"Do you want me to come with?" Eliana asked her.

_Yes! Oum yes!_

"No, I'll be fine after I sit down. You go ahead and shower. I'll just take one later when we come back after we get some food," Neela reassured her. Eliana looked at her thoughtfully before nodding and walking towards the shower.

"Okay, suit yourself." Neela watched as she walked away, her body on fire and wanting nothing more than to chase Eliana down and ravage her. She had always been told that men had worse hormones that needed to be kept in check, but at this very moment, Neela wasn't so sure that that was the truth. Perhaps it was the Faunus in her. Could Faunus go into heat?! She slowly retreated back to the locker room and pulled out her scroll, finding that she had a message from Yang on it. She closed the notification out and called Yang back without listening to it, sitting on the floor cross-legged in front of her locker.

"Hey mom," Neela answered as the ringing stopped.

"Neela! Hey kiddo, I'm glad you called! Did you get my message?" Yang asked.

"I did, but I haven't listened to it." Yang cleared her throat.

"Oh. Listen, hun, I just wanted to apologize for this morning. I didn't mean to cause you any stress when you were leaving, it's just that my mom is trying to contact me after all of these years, and I'm not even sure that I want anything to do with her. Ruby's mother, Summer, was the one who raised me, and so my birth mother has never been my real mother in my mind. It's kind of like your situation in a way. That's what was going on when you left the house, I'm sorry." Neela smirked.

"It's okay mom. I knew that you'd tell me what was going on when you were ready. So are you here on the campus tonight?" Neela asked.

"No, I checked in quickly and then I left, there's a lead in Vale that I needed to look into," Yang explained. "But I've got a moment now. Tell me how your day has been so far!" Neela laughed.

"Well, Eliana has made a few new acquaintances, and I got in a fight." Yang laughed.

"That's my girl! Blake's going to be pissed though! Does she know yet?" Neela laughed again.

"Yeah, she knows." Neela could hear her mother having a conversation with someone on the other end of the scroll before Yang's words became audible.

"Well, I'm glad you're having a great day. I love you my little bird. If you see Blake, tell her that I'll be home late tonight. I have to get going."

"Okay, mom. Love you. Goodbye." With that, the call was ended and Eliana stepped back into the locker room, fully clothed and drying her hair with a white towel.

"Feeling better?" Eliana asked her. Neela looked up at her, trying to shake the image her mind was superimposing over her clothes.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Neela stood up with Eliana's help and stretched. "Now, let's go get some food."

* * *

"Well, I'm glad you're having a great day. I love you my little bird. If you see Blake, tell her that I'll be home late tonight. I have to get going," Yang told Neela as she waited for her daughter to tell her goodbye and she hung up the scroll. "Who's ready for another round!?" Yang stood up in the middle of The Crow Bar and motioned for the bartender to come over and fill their glasses as she sat back down. Coco, Nora, and Pyrrha sat around the table with her, laughing as Yang sat back down, nearly falling out of her chair. "What happened next Coco?"

"Oh yes! Give us all of the juicy details!" Nora giggled. No sooner than her mug had been filled again she slammed it and placed the mug back down in front of her empty.

"Right! So then Velv comes out of the bathroom and tells me she may have had too much carrot cake. At first, I thought it was just supposed to be some kind of joke since she's part bunny, but she comes out, and she's missing her pants, and the fuzzy handcuffs that I had bought for the honeymoon were locked around her ears!" Coco exclaimed losing it as the entire table laughed again. Coco took a sip of her cocktail and laughed as she took off her hat and set in on the floor beside her on top of her purse. "She fell asleep before I was even able to get them unlocked."

"What about you Nora?" Pyrrha asked sipping her glass of wine. "Have you and Ren had any inconvenient romantic moments?"

"I could tell you about the time that Jaune walked in on us at the inn, but it'd be funnier if you ask him to tell the story when you get home tonight," Nora blurted out. Yang pointed at Nora feverishly as she set down her own mug, trying to keep up with Nora's count.

"Ruby told me this story. She said he ran out of there so fast and he looked horrified. When Ruby asked him what was wrong, all that Jaune could reply was 'They're booping!'" Yang shouted out. They exploded into a thunderous cackling once again. Pyrrha nudged Yang, gesturing over her shoulder with her head.

"Is that our guy?" Pyrrha asked her. Yang turned around to get a better look at the man, he wore a large shield on his back and Yang was just able to spot the tattoo on his chest. Yang looked back at Pyrrha and nodded. "Should I go and try to seduce him?" Yang and Nora looked at each other, muffling laughter in their hands as their faces twisted, trying to keep silent.

"Pyrrha, you've got the looks, but you aren't the seducing type honey," Coco told her. Coco mussed up her hair and walked over to the bar, sitting down next to him.

"Look at her. Such a pro," Yang told them. Coco twisted her straw in her glass for a moment before turning to look at Orion.

"You must have had a rough day today at work, hmm?" She asked him. "You've got to be one of those Huntsmen, right?" He glanced over at her before the bartender served him his whiskey. He looked down at the glass for a moment before taking a sip and setting it back down on the bar. He watched the ice float for a couple of seconds before he decided to acknowledge her again.

"What if I am?" He asked. She smiled as she took a sip of her drink from the straw, chuckling for a moment.

"I've never met a Huntsman before. It must get lonely though. All of those nights alone, fighting Grimm. Not a lot of time to know the warmth of a woman, is there?" Coco asked. He smirked, slamming the rest of his whiskey.

"What are you suggesting?" He asked. She looked at him over her glasses and leapt down from her stool, placing her hands on his chest, rubbing her hands all over him.

"I think you know what I'm suggesting," Coco told him. She pulled him in with her left hand, whispering in his ear as she motioned for Yang to come over with her right hand. "I want to see if you handle a woman as well as you handle a weapon."

"Perhaps that can be arranged." He jerked upright and an orb of light formed between him and Yang, exploding and throwing Yang back, causing her to stumble away and into the table. "But not with you." He pulled his head back and headbutted Coco who smiled, unfazed. She head butted him back and Pyrrha threw him back against the wall, pinning him there. Orion pointed at Yang. "Yang Xiao Long, well if I'm not just having one hell of a week. As luck would have it, I ran into your daughter last night! She's a spitfire, and she's got quite the body. Her friend wasn't half bad looking either."

"Listen here you pervert!" Yang yelled as her hair flared. Nora grabbed her and held her back, short of reaching Orion. Orion raised his eyebrows, licking his lips at Yang, causing her to become even more worked up.

"Yang, we need him alive!" Nora reminded her.

"Listen to your friend there Yang. Wouldn't want to damage the merchandise. I wouldn't be able to tell you everything I know," he told her with a smug grin on his face. "I guess you've caught me then. Going to take me back to the police station again? You already know who I work for, there's really no more information that I can give them." Coco chuckled as she splashed her cocktail on his chest and set the glass back on the counter, the bartender watching on as he cleaned the steins behind the bar. "Is this normal for you?"

"They come in here almost every Wednesday," the bartender replied. Orion shook his head.

"Take me away then," he told the women. "I'm sure the police will be able to hold me this time. It's not like I haven't been arrested on several occasions in the last year now." One of their scrolls rang and Nora jumped, running back around the table after dropping Yang and answering.

"Ruby! We've been waiting for a while now for your call! It's going great… It'd be better if Ren was here, but what can you do, right? Oh yeah! We've got one of the guys here from Merc's Gang! I think Yang was calling for permission to use the secret holding location… We can?! Great! Thanks, Ruby!" Nora hung up and Orion glanced around at them, he seemed more frantic than he had been a moment ago. "Ruby says we can use the 'secret location'."

"She pulled through once again!" Yang exclaimed.

"How's the council going to feel about that?" Coco asked.

"We'll tell them once we get the information," Yang told them.

"We can get it another way if we need to. We don't need Ruby to lose her seat…" Pyrrha offered before Orion interrupted them.

"Jail's fine! I'll take jail!" He shouted at them. Yang smiled as she cracked her knuckles.

"You aren't getting out of this that easily pal," Yang told him. "We're going to take you somewhere that no one else knows about, and you aren't going to leave until you tell us everything that we want to know."

"Can I use Magnhild?" Nora asked rubbing her hand together. Yang smiled at Nora and Coco nodded.

"Oh yeah," Coco told her. Nora's eyes became dark and filled Orion with terror.

"We're going to have a lot of fun together," Nora told him. Pyrrha pulled him off of the wall and floated him out of the building. He wasn't unable to slip his gauntlet on, which meant he wouldn't be able to take his light form to escape them, but it didn't matter. It would only be a matter of time before the Gemini Twins and Sirius came looking for him, and they had never failed at finding him before. Mercury wouldn't be happy, but Orion was determined to make the most out of being captured. He chuckled to himself as they stripped him of his weapons and Yang knocked him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Neela tell Elli how she feels? Will Orion give the Council any information on where Mercury is hiding? Will either of these questions be answered next week? Next week, Chapter 6 - Fear!
> 
> A special thanks once again to my co-creator OrganoidZero.
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, have a happy and safe new year, and stay classy!


	10. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ilia tries to settle in for her first night at Beacon, but things don't go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: This story's current concept was conceived in August 2016! We used the name Ilia before Rooster Teeth, but no one will believe us (Ha!). The irony is that neither of us used her name for the color.

Ilia laid sprawled across one of the cafeteria tables as the doors were thrown open and students began to storm in, determined to pick at what scraps were left from earlier in the day before they headed back to the Great Hall for the night. She sighed for a moment as she slid off of the table and sat for a few seconds, watching everyone rush by towards the kitchen. It had been a nice moment of silence, but Ilia knew that it was time for her to prepare for some sleep and settle in for the evening. She stood up, brushing past the other teens as they filed in for food and eventually she was able to squeeze past. She headed for the dorms, hoping that maybe she'd catch the eye of an upperclassman and they would give her a place to stay for the night. She knew that she was supposed to go to the sleepover in the Great Hall, but the idea was more or less horrifying.

First of all, she was more of a loner and didn't do well with others. To be honest, the idea of having to work on a team for the next four years unsettled her stomach, but it just couldn't be helped. If she wanted to become strong enough to face her demons, she'd have no choice but to go along with whatever Beacon required of her. Another thing that she didn't care for too much was being in confined spaces, as she had shown Titus earlier in a panic. She tried to imagine complying, heading back to the Great Hall and sleeping shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of strangers. She shuddered as she reached the door of one of the dorms that had the lights on inside and banged furiously for a while. It was no use, no one was about to answer and she had no doubt that they were probably all partying, having one last end of summer celebration before they would be forced to return to class the next day.

She smirked, thinking about hiding in the bushes and hijacking a body as it passed by to enter the building, but she knew her limits, and she knew there was no way that she could take control of a body for an entire night. She was usually lucky if she could get away with a few minutes. It was much longer than she was able to maintain when she had first discovered her power, but still not quite as long as she would like. The thought of permanent possession crossed her mind on more than one occasion, but deep down, it was depressing to think about. This is who she was. She wasn't her own person, she was a girl who was constantly taking on new identities just to escape her past. Someone stopped behind her and cleared their throat and she turned around to face him.

"You're not an upperclassman. A little lost are we?" He asked. He wore a considerable amount of armor on his body, flipping his blonde hair out of his face as he held out his hand. "Jaune Arc. I'm one of the teachers here… and I've been known to do some counseling from time to time." She chuckled slightly under her breath.  _As if he needed an introduction_. Attending certain academies brought with it a certain feeling of pride towards one's school, and the alumni that graduated from those schools were almost revered as gods. There wasn't a soul in Vale who didn't know the class of the Fall of Beacon, some of their names and images had even made it as far as Vacuo and Mistral. And of course, RWBY and JNPR had worldwide fame.

"I know who you are Mr. Arc. I don't know if lost is the right word. I know where I'm at, and where I'm at is where I want to be," she replied. "Though I do understand what you were implying. I'll make it over to the hall eventually, don't worry." He nodded his head in disbelief and peered past her at the dorm. She turned around to see if someone had finally appeared to let her in, but it wasn't the case.

"Is that so?" He asked her. She raised an eyebrow. She had a bad feeling that he was going to see to it personally that she returned to the hall, and she rubbed her shoulders, as though she was affected by the cool fall breeze that the evening had brought along with it. "You know what I think?" She wasn't sure where he was heading now with the conversation, so she shrugged and played along.

"What's that?" She asked.

"I think that you want to be alone. I don't think that you intend on going back to the Great Hall," he told her. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Of course, he wasn't that dense. She found a humor in the fact that she had been able to outsmart more soldiers than she had cared to keep count of, but the first teacher that she was having a two-sided interaction with had seen right through her. Why wouldn't he though, she wasn't the first student who had probably tried pulling a fast one on him.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" She asked. She knew he saw right through her, so why was he playing this game? Why not take her right to the hall and be done with it. He turned around and walked to the end of the sidewalk, stopping for a moment and looking back at her, waiting for her. "What?" She knew what he wanted, but still, she felt like making him work for it. She was a rebel at heart, and she'd continue playing the part as long as she could.

"Come with me," he told her. He headed down the path, away from the Great Hall, and didn't even wait or look back for her once. She watched him around the corner of the building and she glanced back towards the main campus. Where was he taking her? She thought for sure that he would guide her back to the building, but as she ran to the end of the path, she watched as he continued to walk further away. She looked back and forth between the two options, weighing up the third of waiting for someone to come by and let her in the dorm. What if no one else came by and she was left out in the cool of the night? She couldn't risk getting sick hours before the initiation began. She thought about it for another long moment before she finally decided to chase Jaune down, matching his slow-paced walk as she arrived. "So you've made your decision, huh?"

"What's this all about?" She asked him. He smiled softly, still continuing further down the path. He didn't say anything for a while and they enjoyed a mutually agreed on silence until they path ended abruptly and they stared into the forest that bordered the school grounds. For a moment she swore that she had spotted a pair of Grimm's eyes, but she knew that it was an absurd notion. The woods had been clear since they had rebuilt the school, and with the dragon defeated, it was unlikely that they would ever see Grimm in the area ever again.

"You can't let fear control you," he told her. She stared into the woods for a long moment, trying to spot what he was staring so intently at, but had no luck in the matter. She finally turned back to look at him. "Some of the staff members saw what happened earlier with Titus." She frowned and began to walk briskly away as he looked back at her. "Ilia." Her body shook as he spoke her name, he had struck a nerve and had driven her past the point of listening for the time being.

"That isn't something that I can just turn off at will!" She yelled back at him, stopping in her tracks. "You haven't been where I am! You'd don't know what it's like to live in constant fear! It isn't something that you can just magically get over, or pretend isn't there!" There was a fire in her eyes as rage filled her entire body. For him to suggest that she could just pretend that her fear didn't exist all together pissed her off, and she refused to listen any further if he made it a point to imply that again.

"I know that," he replied softly. She scoffed and marched back to him.

"What would you know about it?" She asked him. She stopped a few feet in front of him, only a few inches shorter than he was. "What do you know about fear!? You're Jaune Arc, the White Knight!" He placed a finger to her lips for a moment and her eyes widened with shock as she batted his hand away.

"I grew up in a household with seven sisters. All of them were highly successful, and my parents gave them praise and notice on a regular basis." He chuckled slightly. "You'd think that being the only boy that they had that noticing me would have just come naturally, but it didn't. I had to fight to be recognized just as they did. I wasn't good at anything really, and so I decided I'd become the one thing that they wouldn't be able to ignore. A Huntsmen. They'd have to notice me then. The problem with that was, I wasn't good at being a Huntsmen either. I faked my transcripts to get in here. I was terrified every day, every mission that they sent us on for training, I was afraid that I wouldn't come back."

"Why'd they let you in?" She asked him, her demeanor softening. The thought that he had ever been afraid of Grimm was a novelty to her. He had been a part of Team JNPR. Team RNJR was one of the biggest reasons that Remnant hadn't fallen completely under Salem's control. Yet here stood Jaune, one of Remnant's greatest warriors, confessing to her that he had once been afraid as well. It was a different fear than hers, but fear none the less.

"Ozpin saw potential in me, as he did with all of the other students that I attended with. We know about your past Ilia, and logic dictates that everything we know about you should make us afraid to allow you to attend. But Glynda sees a potential in you that you yourself may not even be aware of yet." He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her again as he walked past, heading towards another one of the dorm buildings, this one was the furthest from the campus and all of the lights were off. "To finish my story, with the help of those around me, I finally overcame my fears and became the great Huntsmen that I always hoped to become. It might not be easy Ilia, but one day you too will overcome your fear." He walked up to the dorm and unlocked the door, opening it and stepping in, turning the light on.

"I don't understand," she told him. "Is this…"

"This is the dormitory for the first year students. You'll be assigned rooms tomorrow after you find out who your teammates are," he instructed her. "There's a student lounge at the end of this main hall. You can probably sleep on one of the couches in there for the night. Just make sure that you lock the door when you leave in the morning, wouldn't want anyone finding out you were in here."

"I understand all of that, but this goes against what you said about me overcoming my fears," she told him. He laughed and walked out past her.

"No one expects you to conquer your fears in a day." He stopped at the door, about to shut it behind him as he left. "If you ever need help, we're all here for you Ilia." She smiled thoughtfully as the door closed. There was something truly different about Beacon and it made her glad that she had fled to Vale instead of staying in Vacuo and attending Shade. She walked down the hallway, the walls were bare and freshly painted white, something she was sure that they probably did on a yearly basis, and she could only imagine how crazy it was going to be in there once the rest of the students were piled in. The first door on her right was a laundry room, complete with standard washers and dryers, and a few deep sinks scattered here and there. Across the hallway was the standard public family bathroom, barely big enough for one person, and a shady locking mechanism on the door that could possibly spring open if the person waiting to get in messed with it enough.

She continued on her tour of the first floor, the next room on her right was a small kitchen, it had three stoves and several microwaves, in addition to two refrigerators for the students to share as well. There was enough room left over for a small table, but there wasn't one to be found and she left the room, crossing the hall into the student lounge area. It was by far the largest room on the bottom floor, several small round tables were set up, as well as three spacious couches that faced one large holographic projection television. Ilia slowly moved to the pictures on the wall, class photos of the students that had come through the dorm over the years. She laughed at the pictures as she looked them over, not really recognizing anyone with the exception of Team RWBY and JNPR.

She peered out into the hallway, noting that all that was left was a flight of stairs at the end of the hall that would have led to the next floor, before stepping back into the room and taking in the complete silence. It wasn't anything like that chaos that she had been greeted with earlier. As impractical as she knew it was, she wished it could be this silent all the time, but she then recalled what Jaune had told to her about overcoming her fear. She stood along the back of the couch, enjoying the central heat that filled the room with a comforting warmth, and she removed her weapons from her hips, setting them behind the couch as she leapt over the back and landed comfortably. She sighed in bliss as she snuggled against the cushions, she had never known such comfort! She could only imagine what the beds must feel like.

She removed her scroll and noted the missed calls, deleting them immediately before turning on some soft music that might help her drift off. This was it. This was her first night at Beacon Academy and she didn't have to be scared that they'd find her. She didn't have to fear that Glynda would find out the truth about her and throw her out into the cold. She felt safe for the first time in her life. It was a feeling that she could get used to after a while. She slowly drifted off after sometime and greeted the idea of meeting her team in the morning… Until something slammed against the front door. Ilia's eyes shot open as she remained paralyzed on the couch, not wanting to move, and hoping that after a few moments they would go away.

They slammed against the door again, and Ilia shook slightly as her imagination began to run away with the situation. How could she have been this careless, they had found her, hadn't they? Ilia threw herself over the couch, landing on top of her guns and quickly strapping them to her arms, leaping back up to her feet. She crouched as she slowly moved back into the hall, which seemed much longer than she had first remembered it being. The pounding grew more rapid now as if a Grimm was trying to tear down the building and pull her out. Surely it would batter her around for a while before finally finishing her off slowly. She shook her head, that's nonsense! She paused for a moment.  _What if it is a Grimm?_

She argued with herself as she crept down the corridor, wondering what had come over her. Grimm were easy to take down, what was she so afraid of? She was afraid that it wasn't a Grimm. But surely the school wouldn't let them take her again, would they?  _You're just panicking Ilia, pull yourself together!_ She sprinted the rest of the way, silencing her fears and throwing the door open, guns ready to blow the intruder away. Her chest heaved as she slowly came down from her anxiety attack, noting that Jaune stood before her holding a pillow and blanket, a concerned look fixed on his face. She blushed as she lowered her guns and attached them to her jeans. She ran a hand through her hair as she looked back down the hallway towards the lounge, exhaling hard as she faced him again.

"Ilia, are you okay?" He asked. She chuckled, hoping that this time she could just play it off.

"I turned on the TV. There was some horror movie on and your knocking startled me," she explained. He handed the items to her and nodded slowly at her.

"Uh huh. I might recommend that you try and get some sleep instead," he suggested. She nodded quickly and stepped back.

"Good idea. Thanks, Mr. Arc." He nodded in response and she closed the door, heading back to the couch and making herself comfortable again. It had to have been something that she ate earlier, right? She shook her head and drew the blanket close, inviting sleep in once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like Ilia has some issues that need to work out. Next week, will Neela tell Eliana how she feels? Chapter 7 - Waterfalls and Memories!
> 
> A special thanks once again to my co-creator OrganoidZero.
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, have a happy and safe new year, and stay classy!


	11. Waterfalls and Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neela and Eliana decide to sneak out and have a little fun during their first night at Beacon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to the finale and a family get together, this upload is coming a day late. Sorry, and I hope you enjoy!

"You're still wearing that thing to bed?" Neela asked Eliana as she reentered the Great Hall from the changing rooms. Eliana wore an oversized t-shirt with her dad's name on the back, on the front was the Mistral kingdom's emblem transposed over a softball. Eliana looked down at her shirt and then back up at Neela, shrugging slightly.

"Yeah. What's wrong with this? This is what my dad wore when he played in the police's summer softball league. He led all of the leagues in triples the year I was born. Thirteen triples in a 10 game season is no laughing matter Neela. Not to mention he had a lifetime batting average of over three hundred, one of the best in all of the kingdoms. If he hadn't died in that Grimm attack, he could have led all of Remnant in runs batted in by the time he retired," Eliana reminded Neela. Neela shook her head and stretched her hands above her head, pulling her tank top up just enough to reveal her belly button. "It's better than what you've got on."

"I'm just amazed that you remember all of that," Neela told her. "And what's that supposed to mean?!" Eliana chuckled.

"You with your tight tank top and booty shorts that say 'Dust' across the butt? If I didn't know better, I'd say that you were advertising the goods. There's no rush Neela, I'm sure you'll find someone that likes you like that by the time we finish our first year! Maybe you've already met them," Eliana suggested. Neela could only stare at Eliana, understanding the irony of her words. "What?"

"It's nothing," Neela replied. She placed her pillow on the floor and wrapped herself in her blanket, watching as Eliana copied her just a few feet away and rolled over so that they could face one another. "Elli. I'm sure that there's probably nothing that we need to worry about, but what if we don't end up on the same team? What happens then?" Eliana just smiled at her like she always did, and Neela was no longer worried. She had nothing to worry about, as long as they were both alive, they'd still be friends and nothing was going to change that. What did it matter if they were on the same team? Neela almost wondered if it would be better if they were separated, especially because of her feelings towards Eliana.

"Then we'll each have one more new friend that we wouldn't have had. We can still study together and hang out. If we don't end up on the same team together, it doesn't mean that we won't still be friends," Eliana told her. Eliana laughed. "Maybe if you're really lucky you'll get to be on the same team as the Maniac." Neela turned red and pulled her pillow out from under her head, hitting Eliana with it.

"Don't say that!" Neela giggled. She pulled back again in preparation of another attack, but the pillow slipped from her grip and flew away from her, landing softly in the chest of a student who was standing near the middle of the room. He glanced over at the two of them, looking back down at the object in his hands for a moment before returning his gaze to them and heading over. "We are three for three today, aren't we?" They both averted their eyes, giggling and scolding each other as he drew closer.

"Play it cool," Eliana told Neela quickly under her breath. He stopped above them, holding the pillow down to Neela.

"I believe this belongs to you," he suggested handing it over. He had dark blue hair that was feathered just off center, with a thick soul patch that covered from his lip to the bottom of his chin. He brushed the bangs back out of his face, revealing his yellow eyes and a small clear optic filter that sat in front of his right eye, attached to his head by an earpiece, or at least Neela assumed. He wore a black, long sleeve spandex shirt that clung close to his body, showing that he was quite tone. His right arm was covered in a light looking silver armor that seemed to match his movements, leaving the girls to wonder if it had some sort of cybernetic or nanite technology incorporated into it. His look was complete with black pants and matching boots, detailed with bits of silver armor that covered the toe, heel, and knees. His emblem was printed on his left breast, a gear in the middle of an atom.

"Yes, thank you," Neela replied as she pulled it away from him. She glanced over at Eliana who was blushing slightly. Eliana sat up and reached a hand up towards him, causing Neela to become worried about what Eliana was planning to do next. She recognized that look in Eliana's eyes, and what came next was almost always unpredictable.

"I'm Eliana Latherus and she's Neela Xiao Long," Eliana shook her head and leapt to her feet, leaning in towards him. "My friend here is single." Neela blushed hard as she leapt to her feet and pulled Eliana away from him. Eliana flailed as Neela throttled her, holding her between the two of them like a shield, and trying to cover her mouth.

"Eliana…" She seethed through gritted teeth. Eliana clutched at Neela's arm, trying to free herself.

"I'm trying to help," she managed. She pulled away for a moment, gasping for air as Neela smiled at him.

"What my friend is trying to say is pleased to meet you!" Neela blurted out. She gripped hard at Eliana's arm and Eliana inhaled sharply in pain, nodding her head in agreement, biting her lip.

"Nice to meet the two of you as well. My name's Cobalt Thénard." He told the two of them. They all three stood there for a long awkward moment looking at each other as they all tried to think of something to say. Neela cleared her throat, hoping that he would get the hint that she wanted him to leave but had no such luck as Eliana was the first to speak up.

"So… Excited for tomorrow?" She asked. The question had an obvious answer, but Eliana felt that it was better than continuing on in silence.

"You could say that," he replied. "It's been a long time since I've actually had 'normal' interactions with other people my age, so it'll definitely be a nice change of pace, but I'm ready to show the teachers what I'm capable of, and prove to them that I'm serious about being here." Neela stepped away from Eliana releasing her. This one seemed normal enough, at least he was friendlier than that Lykos kid they had bumped into earlier on in the day. "So you're not single then?" Neela blushed again as Eliana smiled at her, her eyes gesturing towards Cobalt.

"No, I am single, it's just… I just met you. Don't get me wrong, you seem like a nice guy, but I don't really think anyone should jump into anything that fast, right?" Neela defended herself. Cobalt chuckled.

"It's fine," he told her. Another awkward silence filled the air and Eliana once again found a way to break it.

"Can I try on your scope thing there?" Eliana asked pointing at the optic device he wore. Neela looked at her, slightly bewildered. She didn't understand what was happening, Eliana was never this open to new people. He removed it and held it in his hands so that they could both view it. Neela had been right before, the device would be fitted over his ear which would keep it in place as he looked through it.

"I'd love to let you try it, but it's currently programmed to my brain wave pattern and setting it up for someone else to use would take more than a few days, not to mention that even if I did adjust it for you to test drive it, it would still be tethered to the nanites in my armor. If you thought anything while wearing it, it would cause my armor to react. Now if you had a similar set of armor that would be a different story, but I built this from scratch with a little assistance from my dad. It's the only set of its kind. I could make you a set, but I'd have to crunch the numbers, and the price would really depend on the functionality of what you want. Mine uses a direct neural tap to process my muscles artificially with the help of the armor. It helps me block faster, aim better, swing harder, all without me having to think about it," he explained to them. Neela looked at him for a long moment trying to process everything that had just come out of his mouth. "Plus it calculates trajectories, ranges, power levels…"

"I don't mean to be insulting," Neela prefaced her next statement. "But you're a bit of a nerd, aren't you?" He looked the device over in his hand before slipping it back on and chuckling.

"Maybe just a touch," he replied smiling at them. Eliana laughed out loud for a long moment, looking back and forth between the two of them. She snorted slightly, trying to calm herself before her laughter grew out of hand.

"I didn't understand a single word that he just said!" She blurted out. He still smiled, nodding at them before walking away. Eliana propped herself against Neela as she finished laughing and looked around. "Aw. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings."

"I don't think you did," Neela told her. "He just seems a little different." The both startled as a soft alarm sounded over the intercom.

"Attention students lights out will begin in a few moments. Please find a spot to lie down before lights out so that we can avoid any unnecessary injuries, thank you. Once lights are out, the doors will be locked and you will not be allowed to leave or enter the Great Hall. We hope that you sleep well tonight and have a pleasant experience in the morning," the voice instructed them. Eliana grabbed Neela by the arm and quickly rushed towards the doors, slamming through them and racing down the pathway towards the cliff, despite Neela protesting and pulling back against her.

"Elli! What are you doing, we're going to get in trouble!" Neela yelled at her. Eliana stopped as they reached the ledge and sat down, letting her feet dangle as she stared out at the waves, listening to them crash off the base of the cliff. She watched as the moon shone off of the water, lighting up the night around them as the ocean breeze chilled them both. "Elli!" She wasn't sure at first if Eliana had heard her. She didn't acknowledge her, and her sights were fixed on one of the waterfalls further down the cliff. It poured into the ocean, foaming at the bottom as the two collided with each other and became one. The distance it had to travel made it almost seem surreal as if it were something out of one of the fantasy stories that Blake used to read to her when she was younger.

"My mom says that dad used to take her to the ocean all the time when they first started dating," Eliana told Neela. Neela looked down at her friend for a moment, rubbing her bare arms as she felt the winds of fall sweep past them, though Eliana seemed unphased. "She said that he would always tell her that the ocean was one of the most perfect things in all of Remnant because, despite the fact that the water itself was not alive, it was more alive than most the things in this world. Listen to the sound and note its beauty. It gives life and when it's angry, it can take life away. The motion can put someone to sleep or can wake them into a nightmare. Notice how he said that it was perfect, but not beautiful. No, the perfection of being all things absolutely, yet completely open to interpretation, was what made it beautiful."

"Elli…" Neela said, she could hear the pain in her friend's voice as she sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her. Eliana looked at her and smiled through the tears. It broke Neela's heart and she felt a sharp stabbing in her chest as Eliana continued. Eliana was pouring her heart out into Neela and in turn, into the ocean's beauty.

"Mom used to tell me that I was one of the things that dad found perfect. He said that I could be the most innocent of children, so full of naivety and wonder, but that I could also be a force to be reckoned with. That's why I'm a completely different person when I fight. I want to remain that perfection that my father had known I could be. I'm happy go lucky all of the time, but when it comes down to being a Huntress, no one will take it more seriously than I will. I just…" She stopped as she looked over at Neela, who was also staring out at the water now. "I want to remain that flawless little girl that my dad thought I was capable of being."

"Elli…" Neela tried again. Now wasn't the time to tell her that she was in love with her. Now wasn't the time to tell her that she was perfect in every way to Neela. Neela understood that everything up to this moment that Eliana had done, she had done to make her father proud. It was all that she strived for. It was all that she wanted to know. That she had been perfect like her father thought she was because **that** meant the world to Eliana. "I don't think that you need to be perfect." Eliana looked hard at her.

"But it's what my dad…" Eliana began to protest.

"Your imperfections are what makes you amazing. In a way, that makes you the perfect… you," Neela explained. "That's what your dad would have wanted. A daughter who is open, but not so much to strangers. And is happy nonstop, except when she needs to be serious. And to be honest, that's what makes you beautiful." They looked at each other and Neela felt her face flush as Eliana smiled at her. It was the first time she had ever told Eliana that. She meant it in the most genuine way. Not only was Eliana physically attractive, but her soul was kind and caring, and Neela was confident that there wasn't anyone who surpassed Eliana.

"You're beautiful too Neela," she replied. Neela took that to heart, not in a way that gave her butterflies, but made her feel warm inside. They sat out there for a long moment, neither of them ready to move. Neela watched her, her purple hair drifting slightly and her green eyes following the waterfall again. It couldn't have been more perfect. Neela's body naturally craved more, but at the moment, she found herself feeling content. "Should we go back now? I don't want you to get in trouble." Neela shook her head.

"We can stay out here as long as you'd like Elli," Neela told her. This was a moment that Neela would remember for the rest of her life, the first night that she had together with Eliana, alone, at Beacon Academy. She would always remember the smell and taste of the salt water thundering far below them. She would remember the warmth of Eliana's body pressed close against her as they both leaned their heads against each other, enjoying the majesty and calmness of the vast waters, and the wonder of what might lie beyond. She could never forget the way that the moon looked, maybe closer than it usually was, shining off of the ocean, and Eliana's eyes. At that moment the world seemed large and endless, and yet it felt as though they were the only two in it.

Moments passed by as they sat in silence, both of them filled with peace from each other's presence. It was hard to know how much time had passed, they had both left their scrolls in the building and while it had only felt like a few minutes, it could have been hours that they had been perched there. Eliana shifted for a moment and Neela glanced at her.

"What do you want Neela?" Eliana asked. She pulled away from her and they looked each other in the eyes. "When we're done here at Beacon. When we both finish here and become the Huntresses we always dreamed of being… What will it all be for?" Eliana looked at the rocks below as the tide swallowed them up before pulling back to reveal them again. "All I want is to impress my father. And to get married of course. Have a child of my own that can feel safe when she goes to sleep at night, knowing that her mother is doing everything in her power to keep her protected from Grimm and evil." She paused for a moment before locking her eyes with Neela's again. "What about you though? Have you thought about it?"

Neela froze as she watched Eliana. _Have I thought about it?_ It was the only thing that Neela thought about when she went to bed every night, praying to some higher being that it all might come true and that her many sleepless nights had not been for nothing. She wanted Eliana, and not in the sort of way that teenagers normally wanted each other. She wanted them to be happy forever, and to grow old together. She wanted the child that Eliana spoke of to be theirs, and she wanted to show that child the kind of love that Blake, Yang, and Eliana had always shown her. That's what she wanted. Deep in Eliana's eyes was the future that Neela had always dreamed of.

"I want to be a great warrior," Neela finally spoke after thinking it over for a moment. "I want to settle down later in life and have been married with a kid or two also, but mostly I still want us to be together. You mean the world to me Elli and I don't want us to grow apart for any reason." Neela glanced over at Eliana who looked over at her and chuckled.

"I'm not going anywhere Neela! You worry too much! Nothing is ever going to come between the two of us!" Eliana exclaimed. "I want our kids to play and go to Beacon together and who knows, maybe they'll even fall in love!" Neela chuckled, concealing her hurt. She desperately needed to tell Eliana, but everything the girl said suggested that she didn't even feel remotely the same. What if she risked it all and Eliana's vows to always be there for her disappeared? Was she willing to risk their friendship for something more? If it drove Eliana away, Neela would be devastated for the rest of her life. "Here!" Neela snapped out of it, looking fully at Eliana who held her pinky out towards Neela.

"What?" Neela asked her.

"Let's pinky swear!" Eliana cried out.

"Elli, we're not little kids anymore!" Neela laughed. Eliana's tone changed suddenly and Neela knew that this had a deeper meaning. Eliana's eyes weren't wide and kind, they were thoughtful and severe.

"I'm serious Neela. I want us to swear that no matter what happens, that we're always going to be friends." Eliana explained. "Not even death will stop us." Neela smiled at her and nodded. She hooked her pinky and they both shook. This pleased Eliana and the joy returned to her eyes as she smiled again and hugged her friend. "Great. Now there's nothing for us to worry about." Neela slowly stood and helped Eliana to her feet, but as Neela planned on returning to the campus, Eliana took off towards the woods, in the direction of the waterfall.

"Elli! We need to get back!" Neela called after her before chasing her down. Eliana darted in and out of view as she zigzagged through the trees towards the river that gave the cascade its life. She stopped as she reached the river, kneeling at the edge and scooping a handful of the water, drinking it down.

"Where's your sense of adventure warrior?" Eliana asked. Neela chuckled, shaking her head as she knelt beside Eliana and took a sip herself. It tasted so pure and amazing and she smiled at Eliana as she dipped her feet in, drawing them back out quickly. "It's a little bit cold."

"I can imagine," Neela replied dipping her own toes in. She pulled them back and rubbed her feet as Eliana stood and held her hand down to Neela. "Ready to go back?"

"Not yet!" Eliana exclaimed. "Why don't we take a dip?" Eliana reached down to pull her shirt off but Neela stopped her, giving her a stern look.

"You know that I'll let you do just about anything Elli, but it's freezing in that water. You'd end up with a cold for sure and then I'd feel like I'm the one to blame for you failing the initiation tomorrow," Neela explained to her. Eliana looked at her thoughtfully before nodding and pulling her shirt back down, and walking back towards the pathway. She stopped for a moment, leaning down and picking something up off of the ground, looking it over in her hands before showing it to Neela.

"What's this?" Eliana asked Neela. Neela caught a glimpse of it as the moon glinted between the swaying branches and she stumbled back, panic filling her mind as she shook in fear. Eliana held the mask of a White Fang member in her hands and it brought back all of the memories that Neela had worked so hard her entire childhood to forget. Flashes of being forced to fight at an incredibly young age, and running away from the Atlas Army filled her mind. She hit her knees as Eliana raced over to her and pulled her in. "Neela! Neela! What's going on, are you okay?!" Neela could hear her but couldn't break free as the memories tore through her mind and shook her body.

_She'll be the perfect killing machine. Thank you for trusting her to me. I promise that she'll be the greatest fighter that the Fang has ever seen._

"Neela!" She could hear Eliana still shouting but couldn't snap out of it. Eliana placed her gently on the ground and moved quickly to the river, returning and tossing a handful of water on her, the chill shocking her out of her state. Neela gasped as she looked around frantically, clutching at Eliana. She wasn't with the Fang or the Army, she was here in the woods with Eliana. Neela's mind thrashed as she differentiated between her current reality and subsiding nightmare.

"Elli! Elli! Oh Oum, Elli, I'm so sorry!" She apologized in a panic. Eliana still held her close, allowing her to rest her head against Eliana's chest as she came to. Neela was filled with emotion and tears filled her eyes as she sobbed in embarrassment. "Elli, I hoped you'd never have to see me like that." Eliana looked back at the mask and then back at Neela.

"Is that from the White Fang?" She asked. Neela nodded vigorously as she buried her head deeper. "Neela." Neela was hurt. She could hear the confusion and uncertainty in Eliana's voice as she managed to pull Neela away from her body. It was then that Eliana grabbed her braid and she froze, her eyes wide as she looked at Eliana and felt a wave of fire crawl over her body. What was this? "You've always been strong for me. This time, I can be strong for you." Neela didn't know how to react as Eliana caressed the side of her head, keeping her stunned and paralyzed. It was soothing and her heart had instantly stopped pounding.

"Elli." Eliana wiped the tears from her eyes and stood, helping her friend stand up and hugging her one last time. The feeling that had immobilized Neela was slowly fading as Eliana pulled away and smiled at her.

"Let's head back," Eliana suggested. Neela nodded and as Eliana slowly walked away she reached up and grabbed her braid, stroking the side of her head where Eliana's hand had just been. What was that feeling? It was incredible and horrifying all at the same time, and Neela wanted it again! She followed Eliana back to the main path as she finished calming herself. That mask must have been left from when the Fang had invaded the school during the fall of the tower. She pushed all thoughts of the White Fang from her mind and watched as Eliana led her without a care in the world. She smiled. This was what she needed.

They slowly began to make their way back to the Great Hall, lampposts lighting the way as they headed there. Eliana danced about like a child, her eyes full of wonder once again as she chased after some fireflies that came too close to the path.

"Well, now we have to ask ourselves how the hell we're going to get back into the hall," Neela told her. Eliana moved to one of the light poles and swung her body around it, pulling her shirt up and wrapping her leg around it, revealing her shorts underneath. Neela watched her, feeling amused as Eliana threw her head back. Eliana took her free hand and traced it down her body, from her chin to her cleavage.

"Like what you see?" Eliana asked in a sultry manner. Neela shook her head, covering her face as she blushed and laughed. _I'd like to see more Elli, but perhaps another time._ She tried to assert herself, gesturing for Eliana to get off the pole, but Eliana was too damn cute for her to remain serious for very long.

"Get down from there!" Neela called out quietly. "I highly doubt that seducing the teachers to let us back in is going to work. They're professionals with jobs to think about and we're only seventeen!" Eliana leapt down and steadied herself against Neela.

"You have a better plan? And are those the only two things you have a problem with in that plan?" Eliana asked. She shook Neela as an idea came to her. "We could call Blake! She could probably let us in!" Neela shook her head, slowly strolling closer towards their destination. The last thing that Neela wanted to do was to mess up her perfect record on her first night at the school. Not to mention that Blake would never let her hear the end of it. If only Yang wasn't out on a mission.

"Mom would kill me. Yang would be proud but Blake would kill me," Neela told her. Eliana thought it over and nodded.

"So we're screwed, huh?" Eliana asked. "I guess we were bound to get into trouble eventually, I just didn't think that it would be so soon." Neela watched as Eliana skipped ahead, continuing on with different ways that they could possibly avoid getting in trouble, but most of them were silly and absurd. At that point, Neela didn't care if she was in trouble, it was the furthest thing from her mind. All of this was just a memory that she'd take with her forever. She could forget the part about the White Fang, but everything else she wanted to remember in complete detail! So what if they got in trouble? It was worth it if it meant that they could have times together like this. "… or maybe you could use Hunter's Gaze to find another way in?" Neela stopped in her tracks.

"That's it!" Neela exclaimed. Eliana stopped and glanced back at her. She wasn't quite following, which probably had more to do with the fact that she had suggested several scenarios before Neela had finally responded.

"Hm?" She asked. Neela jogged ahead to her and quickly moved towards the Great Hall, wrapping her arm around Eliana and crouching as they moved along as if it would hide them better from anyone patrolling the campus. Neela didn't know why she hadn't thought of it before!

"If I can find another way in other than the main doors, we can sneak in and they'll never know that we were gone!" Neela exclaimed. "You said that you learned how to pick locks because your dad said it was invaluable, right?" Eliana looked away, turning red and brushing Neela off.

"I'm flattered that you remembered, but these are digital locks. The only way I could pick it is if it were a standard lock like you'd find in villages and towns, not state-of-the-art Beacon Academy," Eliana told her. Neela ran towards the back of the building, stopping for a moment to use her semblance before laughing and pulling Eliana faster. They stopped at a door that must have been just outside of the showers, and Neela rubbed her hands together vigorously, pointing to the doorknob.

"There! There we go!" Neela exclaimed. Eliana examined it before stepping away and looking blankly at Neela. "What's wrong?"

"I don't have anything that I can pick the lock with," Eliana told her. "It was a great plan, but there's nothing I can do." Eliana looked the building over again and looked back at the door. "Where does this door lead anyways?"

"It's the boiler room door. I saw the door on the inside between the two changing rooms and figured there had to be a way to access it from outside for emergency exit purposes," Neela told her. She stepped back, scratching her head for a moment before shrugging. "I guess we'll just have to face the music." They both turned away when they heard someone approaching the building and stopped in their tracks. "Who's there?"

"Allow me," the girl said. In the pale light of the moon, they could only make out that she had a couple of tattoos and they watched as she messed with the knob for a long moment before swinging the door open and stepping inside. Eliana and Neela looked at each other in shock before they ran into the building and closed the door behind them, slowly making their way around the boilers. They had never imagined that it would be so hot in there and as they carefully maneuvered through, Neela noted that she was beginning to sweat. There was no way that she'd be able to avoid showering in the morning now, but it couldn't be helped. Neela led Eliana using her natural night vision and light poured into the room as the other girl opened the second door, allowing them to enter the rest of the building.

"Thank you!" Eliana called out. "Whoever you are." The other girl laughed silently to herself.

"No need to thank me. I'm just here because someone told me I should face my fears," she replied and with that, she disappeared. They stepped into the hallway between the changing rooms and closed the door quietly behind them. Neela sighed out of relief and shook her shoulders, feeling the tension and stress leaving her body. Maybe she could still take a shower quick that night, the lights appeared as if they were still on in the changing rooms.

"That was close," Neela told Eliana. Eliana's eyes grew slightly and she pointed past Neela who gave her a puzzled look.

"What was close Neela?" asked a familiar voice coming out of the changing room. Neela's neck hairs stood straight up as she slowly looked back at Blake who had spotted them coming in. "What were you doing in there?" Neela tried to think quickly, slowly spinning to face her mother, her shoulders cringing. She lowered them slowly as she looked at Blake in terror, laughing sheepishly.

"I thought it was a linen closet," Neela explained. Blake raised an eyebrow and smirked. It sounded more like a question than an answer, but she decided to play along.

"And what would you have been doing in the linen closet?" Blake asked.

"We were talking for a while about girl stuff and then we got curious…" Eliana replied. Blake didn't follow, so she decided to pry further.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"We talked about what it would be like…" Blake gave her another blank stare. "To kiss another girl. I mean every girl talks about it at some point and we both felt it would be safest if we tried it with each other. You and Yang did the same thing, right?" Eliana inquired. Blake's eyes grew wide as they danced back and forth between the girls, suddenly put on the spot between wondering if it was the truth and saying nothing to prevent embarrassing Neela. "We won't sneak off anymore, right Neela?" Blake looked at Neela who was thankful that she was standing in front of Eliana. She had become a dark shade of red and Blake was almost worried that her daughter was going to be sick.

"Right," Neela agreed silently. Eliana looked over Neela's shoulder at Blake who could also feel herself becoming flush. Neela wasn't entirely sure why that was the first thing that had come to Eliana's mind as a cover-up, but she wished it hadn't been.

"I…" Blake stuttered. "I…" Neela was frozen and wanted nothing more than to die. Blake cleared her throat and pointed back towards the Main Hall. "Just return to your spots please." Eliana grabbed Neela who was still in shock and dragged her away from Blake.

"That was close," Eliana told Neela as they stumbled over the other students to return to their sleeping arrangements. Neela's mind had sealed itself in a deep dark hole that she wished for it to never return from. How could Eliana be so clueless!? Had Eliana really just suggested that?! Was it something that Eliana wanted to do? She had said that all girls do it at some point. Was this the opening that Neela had been waiting so long for?! Neela's mind raced back to the feeling that overcame her when Eliana ran her braid through her fingers. Neela gasped as she returned to reality and looked down at Eliana who was already back under her blanket. She patted the floor beside her. "Join me?"

Neela's mind slowly began to turn as she saw herself leaping onto Eliana and kissing her hard on the lips. Naturally, in her fantasy, Eliana was compliant and excited and kissed her back. Neela shuddered before realizing she was giving Eliana another blank stare and she laughed it off as she normally did. She laid down, making herself comfortable and snuggling under her blanket as she watched Eliana begin to drift off. She yawned hard and reached out, grabbing her friend's hand. Eliana smiled.

"Best night ever…" Eliana mumbled as she passed out. Neela smiled and closed her eyes.

Yes. It had definitely been the best night ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But as the girls share a memory and grow even closer to each other, an evil lurks in the shadows. Next week, Chapter 8 - Athena!
> 
> A special thanks once again to my co-creator OrganoidZero.
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	12. Athena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The White Fang Lives! Their new leader has it out for Blake and Yang...

The black cloaked figure slowly entered the room, hesitating only for a moment as its eyes adjusted from the complete darkness of night outside to the dim fire light of torches that were perched on each of the throne room's pillars. They swept in, heading down the large stone room, following the long, dust-filled, red rug between the stone columns to the throne. She placed her hand on the hilt of her sword as she spotted her target and prepared to attack.

"You know what I appreciate the most about Fort Castle? You might be inclined to think that it's the secrecy and location, one really couldn't ask for a more secluded sanctuary," the woman sitting upon the throne spoke to the intruder. Her words dripped with seduction and felt heavy upon the stranger's ears, as if she was breathing them directly into their ear, a wryly and evil smile plastered on her face. "The history. This is where Faunus took a stand. This is the same spot my Great Grandfather captured General Lagune and where the tables turned. Faunus were not meant to be confined to the Island Menagerie. We deserve to live among the people as equals…" The stranger stopped as the woman looked up from her throne, her Grimm mask unnerving the assailant. "Or perhaps as more." The woman on the throne returned her gaze to her fingers, examining the nails carefully.

"Do you not fear me?" asked the cloaked one. She was but 15 feet from her target, but she knew something was different about this one. She had never met her before, but she knew that this woman was very powerful just by her demeanor alone. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that she had found her. This was her final target.

"Adam Taurus… He was my brother. It was his idea, and father's, to keep me locked in a cage at all times when I wasn't training. They said that if the other members knew how strong I was, that they'd kill me. They told me that the White Fang feared me." The woman's head rolled to the other side and peered over her shoulder, into the poorly lit corners of the room. "They were right and though I hated that cage, it taught me that love can be shown in many ways, even if those ways are… unconventional." The target looked at her assailant again, this time a smile creeping across her face, head tilted slightly. "But at the same time… I know that my family feared my power as much as the rest."

"You know why I'm here, don't you Athena?!" demanded the assassin. Athena's head rolled back and she let out a nauseating laugh that filled the empty fort and resonated.

"No no no… She'll never do!" Athena declared to herself as she slowly stood. It was then the killer could see her long red hair. She wore a short black dress embroidered with red tribal patterns and the Taurus Wilt emblem on the back. A belt hugged her midsection, with the right side slightly higher than the left, and her black crude leather boots had matching straps. Black stockings climbed up to her thighs with the family's Wilt emblem on the outside of each, held in place by straps that disappeared into the short ruffles of the bottom of her dress. Her long split cape with a black exterior and red interior completed her look. "Most of the students that he sends to me get the courtesy of me asking their name." Her face was expressionless. "But I already know that you aren't worth my time."

"I've fought hard for this moment!" The assailant tried to demand respect, but Athena seemed soulless at this point. Athena's opponent charged and before they could reach her, Athena disappeared. Athena's black katana, Wither, impaled the student from behind. The student gasped as they hit their knees from Athena removing the sword.

"Not hard enough apparently. Did you even know my semblance?" Their head slowly shook and Athena pulled off their hood quickly, revealing a teenage girl with blue eyes and a short blonde pixie cut. "You attacked your target without knowing an extremely crucial detail about them? Seems like someone was in a bit of a rush." Athena dragged the girl to her feet by her hair and the girl screeched in pain, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Don't cry child. I love you." She cupped the girl's chin. "I love everyone in the White Fang. Understand?" The girl choked back her tears and sniffed, trying to smile.

"Mmhmm." She nodded gently.

"Good. Everything that I do, I do for the good of my people." Athena smiled and turned back towards her throne. The girl took a deep breath as she slowly moved to unsheathe her sword, with Athena turned away from her, she had been given another chance. Athena spun back to the girl quickly taking her off guard, and sliced right through her neck. Her body dropped to the floor and her head rolled away as it landed.

"Damnit! Athena!" A built man with ram's horns stormed into the room and stared down at the girl's body. "How is killing everyone I train helping?" Athena bent down and picked up the girls head, staring deep into her eyes. She clenched her teeth and seethed, tears welling behind her mask. She looked back at Joseph for a moment.

"She was beautiful, wasn't she? And I loved her… I love them all! Do you think that I  _want_  to kill them?!" The man grabbed her arm and found himself pinned to the nearest pillar, the sword at his neck.

"Athena… Just because you're a Taurus…" She smirked and her voice lost all emotion.

"You think my power is my namesake, Joseph?" The blade drew blood and he shook his head slightly. She dropped him and walked back to her throne. "Fifteen students… All unworthy… And my patience is running thin." She sat back down and crossed her legs, leaning forward as he approached her. "You're running out of time Joseph."

"You want perfection Athena, don't be imprac…" She stood and loomed over him from her seat.

"Don't tell me what to do! I am in charge of the White Fang now, and I make the rules! I will do everything that I need to in order to make sure that the Faunus race is given the respect that we deserve!"" He trembled slightly and this pleased her. She smiled again and waved for him to leave. "If the White Fang hopes to survive, you will train others that will equal my own power. I cannot tolerate anything less!" Joseph nodded and began to leave her presence and she followed him for a few steps, stopping above the dead Faunus. "Don't fail me again." She stood there for a long moment as he left and gently lifted the body, holding it in her arms for a long moment as she cried. "I'm sorry child. But I need to protect them." She moved past her throne, where there was a fire pit that burned in the middle of the room and she set the body in it, watching as the flames consumed the girl.

Athena slowly sauntered through the building and stood at the top of the stone steps that led up from out of the forest. There was the slightest hint of sunlight beginning to fill the air, the day would begin soon and so would their work. She needed to ensure that everything was going the way that she had planned. A girl who appeared young enough to be attending one of the academies knelt at the bottom of the stairs.

"Mistress," the girl said as she placed her forehead on the ground.

"Crimson," Athena called out to the girl. Athena's breath caught in her chest as the girl looked up at her. The mixture of magenta and teal in her eyes suited her mischievous nature, and even Athena had to admit that they were naturally captivating. Her short black hair was in a mess as it normally was, and hid most of her face as she peered up at her mistress, her mouth twisted into an evil and wicked smile as she kept her head low. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I couldn't sleep well last night," Crimson replied, her voice sweet and seductive. She placed her head on the ground again as Athena made her way down the steps, stopping at the bottom and lifting the girl's chin with her fingers. Athena lightly caressed her jaw and pulled her to her feet, their lips but inches apart.

"Didn't the mission go well?" Athena asked her. Crimson quivered in ecstasy. She smiled as she reached for Athena's mask to remove it, but Athena frowned and turned away. Crimson knew that it was unwise for them to be seen together like this in public, but Joseph had left and everyone else was still sleeping, why was Athena so worried about them being noticed? Crimson understood that Athena didn't love her, but she was willing to fulfill any needs that her mistress had. Crimson grabbed her arm and Athena stopped, looking back at her.

"Of course it did, but I knew that the new student's initiation was last night and I was afraid…" Crimson stopped. Perhaps it was better that she kept her fears to herself. She knew that Athena could handle herself, but the idea that she might be in danger always caused Crimson anxiety. "I knew that you'd be fine Mistress, it's just that I still worry." Athena was still looking at Crimson's hand before looking her in the eyes again.

"Why are you lying?" Athena asked. Crimson's eyes filled with fear, the sparkle in them dulling as she released Athena and stepped away. Athena looked the girl over, she wore what she normally wore, a wrap bra with a chainmail crop top leaving her midriff bare, her left forearm covered with a black fingerless glove that extended up past her elbow. Her dark red skirt extended past her knees, a slit ran down the right side, revealing her leg all the way to her upper thigh. Athena was well aware that she had a black White Fang emblem tattooed on the small of her back. A small metal rod was attached to her hip.

"Mistress, I'm not lying!" Crimson yelled in a panic. She cringed as Athena reached her in two quick steps and slapped her across the face, sending her sprawling away in fear. Crimson knelt again as Athena marched after her and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her to her feet. "I don't know what you speak of! Please forgive me, though I am not worthy of your forgiveness!"

"When you returned last night, were one of you missing your mask?" Athena asked. Crimson stopped struggling, steadying her breath as Athena let go of her and she fell to the ground again. The girl shook as Athena stood above her, sword in hand. "I watched as the four of you returned, I know that one of you had lost your mask." Crimson suddenly realized what Athena was referring to and became even more apologetic.

"Hunter told me that he had forgotten it in his tent! I didn't realize that he had left it at Beacon! I'm sorry Mistress, I believed that I had only chosen the strongest for this mission but I was wrong! I have failed you!" Athena bit her lip as she contemplated swinging, ending the life of this pathetic Faunus before her. She sheathed her sword and helped the girl to her feet, looking her in the eyes. She didn't feel any differently about this girl than she did anyone else in the village, but Crimson had always served her well and Athena was far more patient than her brother had been.

"You have failed me, but I am not unforgiving. I will allow you to live," she told Crimson. Crimson's eyes lit up and she smiled, throwing her arms around Athena before realizing what she had done. She let go and brushed Athena off who remained expressionless through the entire ordeal.

"Thank you, Mistress!" Crimson cried out. Athena looked away as though she had stopped listening and began to walk down the worn dirt path back towards the village, Crimson following along side of her. Leaves slowly drifted off of the trees and scattered across the path as Athena admired the beauty that fall brought with it. She looked at her handmaiden, her eyes filled with wonder as she marveled at the forest around them. Crimson was mesmerized by the forest's transformation.

"Crimson, do you know why I enjoy fall so much? Do you know why I find it to be the most essential of seasons?" Athena asked. Crimson looked up at her with wide eyes, thirsty for any knowledge that Athena would offer her.

"No, Mistress. Tell me, please?" Crimson yearned for wisdom, and in her eyes, Athena was a goddess and could do no wrong. Everything that Athena said was truth and was for the good of the entire Faunus race. When she had first arrived it was Athena who offered her a chance at a second life and spared her from death. Athena would be their savior, and Crimson would remain by her side until the end. Athena chuckled slightly under her breath.

"When we're alone Crimson, you may call me Athena," the woman reminded her. Crimson shook her head, she couldn't call Athena by name. She was grateful that the woman recognized her at all outside of the rest of the tribe. She was hardly anything special. She was just another page in the same story as everyone else who ended up there. A 19 year old who had been forced to join the White Fang when they killed her parents and gave her no other choice. She embraced them immediately. She had always seen things the way that Athena had, the weak needed to die in order to ensure the survival of the whole. Her parents had refused to join the White Fang, and it displayed a weakness that she had never known was there. Did her parents want them to be treated like animals forever?

Her mind was wandering too far and she returned to the moment, looking away from Athena and deeper into the woods.

"I simply couldn't. I'm not worthy…" Athena stopped her and pulled her in close, brushing her lips against her pupil's. Crimson trembled and could feel her knees becoming weak as Athena's hot breath washed over her. Her, a common girl having an intimate moment with a goddess. The thought was simply too much and Crimson could feel her face flushing, her entire body overheating. She knew that it would never be, but she wished to be a goddess too so that she could be with Athena forever.

"Do you fear me Crimson?" Athena asked. Crimson rested her forehead against Athena's and nodded, not sure if it was what Athena wanted to hear, but she couldn't lie to her. She was more afraid of Athena than anyone in the camp, if not all of Remnant, but it was part of what made their relationship so thrilling. It was forbidden and one slip up meant that Crimson would have to give her life. She would do it willingly if it meant that she'd be helping Athena. She was grateful that Athena had saved her once before and she would be just as grateful if Athena took her life.

"Y- yes. I am terrified of you Mistress. But I love you more than I love myself," she told her. Athena sighed thoughtfully before kissing Crimson hard on the lips, giving her the release she had been waiting for. She gasped as Athena pulled away and began down the path again, leaving Crimson to soak the moment in for a few fleeting seconds. Athena toyed with her and it pained Crimson to know that they would never be together, but if she could serve her mistress like this, it was well worth it. She thought of it more like being rewarded, and it made her want to follow Athena's rules even better.

"You have served me well Crimson. I won't forget that when I'm finished remaking the world over as my own," Athena reassured her. "The reason that I enjoy fall so much is the change. It's is the perfect season to prepare for the year to come." Athena's expression became dark and she gave a twisted smile. "It also brings winter, and as we know all too well, winter always gets rid of the weak." They entered the village and Crimson stood beside Athena at the stone archway that provided the only way in and out of Anzen Village. Children began to run about as more of the light from the sun poured into the village and allowed them to see more freely outside of their night vision.

"The initiation at Beacon will begin in a few hours," Crimson reminded her. Athena nodded thoughtfully as she smiled warmly at the children that ran up to her. "Everything is in place as you asked. We'll have our answer soon enough about the new class." Athena nodded at her.

"Princess Athena! Look!" A young girl called out to her, holding a small daisy towards her. Athena knelt down as she took the flower and pulled the girl in. Her eyes lit up as Athena kissed the top of her head and thanked her.

"It's beautiful Ulva. I'll love it forever," Athena told her. The girl giggled and ran off back to her hut to tell her mother what had happened as Athena stood back up.

"Mommy, the princess knows my name!" Ulva called out. Athena turned to Crimson and motioned for her to follow as they headed across the village.

"I truly love everyone in the village, and I have my father and Adam to thank for that. I realized that I shouldn't hate these people for being afraid of me. They can't help feeling that way, it's natural. It doesn't mean that I shouldn't love them. It just means that I have a deeper love for them than anyone who came before. It's a burden I'm willing to carry," Athena explained to her. They had passed by the bakery and the blacksmith before reaching a path that would lead them to a few farms on the far end of the village, and Hunter stood down the path from them and they both watched as he noticed them, dropping down to one knee and shaking in his White Fang armor.

"Athena, please forgive me…" He managed. "It was an accident and it will never happen again! I swear it Your Greatness!"

"You lied to me, Hunter!" Crimson called out as he bowed his head. "You told me that you left your mask at home but Mistress says otherwise! She says that you lost it in the Emerald Forest near Beacon. Is that true?" Hunter shook as he clutched at his chest. Athena looked at Crimson, smiling as she could see the same look of justified rage she often felt herself in the girl's eyes.

"What are you talking about, Crimson? I did leave my mask here! I was in a rush to get there because the longer we took, the more dangerous the mission was going to be! Six of the others died last night during the mission! What you asked us to do was suicide! I wasn't about to allow myself to be killed by that thing!" He called out. "Please forgive me, Athena!" Tears fell from his eyes and pattered on the ground as Crimson removed the rod on her side. Athena grabbed her arm and looked at her before looking down at the weapon.

"You should only use the Dust blade in emergencies. The mystic abilities of this weapon are something that even I don't understand. It's powerful, you should not let it go to waste when you know its true power," Athena instructed her. Athena removed her blade and held it out in front of her, horizontally. "Remember that we only kill to make sure that the strong will survive. The weak will only hold us back." Crimson nodded and her eyes lit up as she turned back to Hunter, she looked crazed. She took the rod and turned quickly, slamming it against Wither and swinging back towards Hunter as the weapon in her hand transformed into Athena's sword. In a mad dash, Crimson immediately reached Hunter, the blade at his throat as she had knocked him over and sat on top of him.

"Crimson, please don't do this!" He cried out. "Check my tent! My mask is still there!"

"Do you hear that?" Crimson asked. Her eyes became red and black and Hunter filled with terror. "You're a failure and Mistress can't allow such weakness to exist around her. What if you had slipped up protecting her life?" She extended her claws, that being her Faunus feature, and sliced through his armor plate, pulling it off of him and tossing it away. "You're nothing." Hunter shook even more as he watched the red leave her eyes, filling them only with a soul-piercing black void as she plunged the blade deep into his chest. "You deserved to die."

"Well done Crimson," Athena told her as she walked over. "It would seem that your training is paying off." Crimson shook with pleasure as she watched the blade slide out of his body, blood dripping off and splattering against his shirt. After a long moment, Crimson looked up at her, her eyes becoming normal again as she smiled up at her mistress and her weapon became a rod once more. Athena looked down at the body before meeting Crimson's eyes again. "He seemed so sure of himself. Who did he think he was fooling?"

"Then teach me!" Crimson shouted as she slowly stood. "Allow me to become your apprentice!" Athena shook her head and walked away as Crimson retracted her claws and stood up.

"You know that I can't allow that," Athena reminded her. Crimson pouted slightly before returning to her master, noting the blood on her hands. She stared at it for a long moment, a forgotten memory thrashing at the back of her mind. She looked back up at Athena and nodded.

"I know," she muttered under her breath. "What do we do now?" Athena smirked and chuckled.

"As I said before, fall is the perfect season for planning, and everything is in place for me to have my revenge on Belladonna and Xiao Long."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An evil emerges in the form of a familiar foe. Will the students be able to hand Athena and her handmaiden? Next week, Neela and Eliana get prepared for their initiation in the forest as Team RWBY discusses a newly discovered concern in Chapter 9 - The Gift and the Relics!
> 
> A special thanks once again to my co-creator OrganoidZero.
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	13. The Gift and the Relics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neela has a gift for Eliana before they start their initiation mission, and Team RWBY is having a meeting with Glynda, but what about?

       Morning. Titus felt his eyes thrown open as his alarm sounded on his scroll and he sat straight up. He looked around the room, noting the fact that all of his fellow classmates were still fast asleep and he quickly reached out to his alarm, silencing it and placing it in the pocket of his sweatpants as he leapt to his feet. He noted Ilia, the girl who he had run into yesterday, had been sleeping nearby, as though he was going to offer her some sort of security in the night, or perhaps she hoped that he would forgive her quickly and they could ‘kiss and make up.’ He convulsed at the thought and quietly made his way through the bodies to the showers. It wouldn’t have concerned him to shower with the other men, he was quite aware that they all had the same parts, and it really didn’t bother him, but he hoped by being up earlier than the rest of them he would have a little extra time to try and prepare for their initiation mission.

       The water rolled down his massive body as he stood directly beneath the showerhead, placing his hands against the wall to support himself, and staring down at the floor, watching as the water dripped off of him and slipped into the drain. He slowed his breathing and began focusing on what mattered. In less than a few hours, he would be out in the field, fighting Grimm to ensure his survival and his placement at this school. He had read the briefing in the packet over at least a dozen times. They would enter the Emerald Forest, fight their way through monsters, retrieve one of the relics, and exit the forest. The thing that seemed to bother him the most, however, was the fact that whoever the first person is that he lays eyes on, he would be stuck with for the next four years. As far as he could tell, there was no changing the rules as far as that was concerned. There was no sort of appeal that could be made, no special ruling if you ended up with someone that even threatened to end you. Four years.

        A horrifying thought of being stuck with Ilia came over him and he shook his head as he reached for his shampoo and lathered it into his hair, letting it soak in for a few moments before he rinsed it out. If he was completely honest with himself, he could probably tolerate her for that long if he needed to, but it was preferable that he didn’t have to.  _ Please, try and enjoy yourself while you are here.  _ Those were the words that General Branwen had used, one of the last things that she commanded him to do. Enjoy himself? He wasn’t sure he knew how to enjoy himself, all that he had known for most of his life was fighting to bring honor to himself, his family, and to Atlas. That in itself gave him enjoyment, but without any of that to drive him, how was he supposed to ‘enjoy’ anything?

       But it wasn’t so much a command as it was a request. Here they wouldn’t command him to do anything. Everything they did at Beacon was more of a request and if he didn’t follow through, the punishment would be far less severe than it had been with General Branwen or his previous commanding officer. He dried himself off in the locker room as he stood there in his boxers, rummaging through his locker for the packet, and reading it over another time. Everything felt off and it felt different. In Atlas, they were in charge of every last thing that Titus did. They scheduled time for him to eat, sleep, think, even breath. There were no options, there was only an exact time that everything  **had** to be done. Here he had extra time this morning to do whatever he pleased. The mess hall had multiple options that he could choose from for breakfast instead of a granola bar and a protein shake. He smirked. If he wanted waffles… He could have waffles.

       Titus got dressed and left the Great Hall to the cafeteria, stepping inside and noting that only one other student was there with him, a girl who looked like she probably came from a rough part of town, wearing some thug like attire with a beanie on her head. She had earbuds in and head banged as she turned her music up even louder, despite the fact that Titus could already hear it from across the room. She acknowledged him as he stepped past her, grabbing a tray and loading it up with fruit, adding a bowl of oatmeal and a milk as he moved to the far end of the room, holding the packet under the platter. As he sat he removed it again, memorizing it as he took a bite of an apple, determined to know the material front and back before he finished his meal.

       “What’s your name!?” The girl called out. His eyes narrowed as he looked harder at the papers, praying that she would just ignore him, or that he could just play it off like he couldn’t hear her. “Excuse me! What’s your name?!” He sighed, setting the files down and looking across the empty lunchroom at her.

       “Titus! And yours?” He asked. Though he knew just by looking at her he was superior to her, he decided to humor her and feign interest in the conversation.

       “Tawney!” She called back. She pulled out her earbuds and paused the music for a moment. “Ever heard of Jeff and Casey Williams?” He looked at the ceiling, trying to recall the names if he had ever heard them, but shrugged, unable to ever remember being aware of them. “Caffeine?! Boop?! Nothing?!” He shook his head.

       “No, I’m sorry.” She shook her head in disappointment and put her earbuds back in.

       “You should really give them a listen sometime. The Remnant Broadcast Station is doing a sweepstake! One lucky school will get to have them perform a concert! That would be epic!” She shouted out again, unable to hear her own voice over the music blasting in her head. He nodded slowly, no longer interested in the conversation as he looked back down at the information. If they had a pop quiz about the history of the school, he would undoubtedly ace it. He smirked again as he finished his food and stood, moving to the trash can and emptying the tray before taking it back to the kitchen. “It was nice to meet you!” He cringed as he walked away.

       “I’m sure it was,” he muttered under his breath as he left the cafeteria and headed towards the courtyard. He looked up at the statue of Team RWBY once again and recalled the words that Glynda had told him.  _ They needed to come together under the idea that no matter who was truly the strongest, they could achieve an even greater strength if they worked together. _ There was a truth in what she had told him, but there was also the matter that the individuals made the whole, and the whole would only become stronger if the individuals did too. He trained by himself in front of the statue as he waited for the other students to stir. Soon enough he would be leading his team to victory.

* * *

 

       Neela slowly opened her eyes to find that Eliana was still lying there across from her, looking into her eyes as she smiled, realizing that Neela was awake. Neela blushed slightly, the feeling returning to her hand and she noted that it was still gently grasping Eliana’s. She pulled it away, acting as if she meant to adjust her blanket and made herself as comfortable as she could on the floor. She yawned and stretched, rolling onto her back and causing Eliana to giggle and move closer, leaning her head on Neela’s shoulder. Neela startled slightly as Eliana nestled in closer.

       “Good morning Neela,” Eliana finally spoke. Eliana had finally stopped moving and sighed, comfortable with the position she had found as Neela could hear her lightly breathing. “How did you sleep last night?” Neela tried to ignore Eliana, knowing it was her best bet at not completely losing her cool and she stared up at the ceiling. It felt nice to be this close to Eliana. She smiled slightly and shifted, hoping to roll away but Eliana pulled in closer and Neela swallowed hard. “I slept pretty well last night, which is crazy because thinking about the fact that in less than two hours we’ll be starting our initiation has me super anxious.”

       Neela finally lost her nerve and sat up, forcing Eliana to roll off of her and laugh as she sat up herself. Neela ran a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face and smiling at Eliana. She hoped she had played it cool and surprisingly, it hadn’t bothered Neela as much as some of the other things that had gone on between them yesterday, but Neela knew it had to do with her nerves as well. As much as she loved Eliana, it would all have to be pushed into the back of her mind today. She couldn’t be distracted. Today was the first chance she would have to show Glynda and the other teachers what she was made of, and how well she did would determine whether or not she was leading a team for the next 4 years, or following in someone else’s footsteps. Neela stood up and helped Eliana to her feet as they gathered up their makeshift beds and headed for the locker room to shower and change back into their normal clothes.

       “Neela, you’re always so composed,” Eliana told her as she opened up her locker after they finished showering and began changing. Neela turned her back to her, noting the potential distraction and smirking to herself. “I just don’t know how you do it. You don’t even seem nervous about the initiation today! Everything that we’ve learned so far has led us to this moment, but it doesn’t even seem to faze you! This is a life-changing experience and you’re just taking it in stride!” Neela bent into her locker and the small chest fell onto the floor from the mess of clothing that had been shoved inside. She panicked for a moment, quickly throwing it back in as she glanced over her shoulder, hoping that Eliana hadn’t noticed. She let out a sigh of relief as she noted that Eliana was still turned away, pulling her vest on.

       “I don’t know if I would quite call it ‘life-changing’,” Neela told her but Eliana shook her head.

       “Four years is a long time to be with the same four people. You’ll rub off on them, they’ll rub off on you. You might not watch anime now Neela, but beware of Otakus! They know how to pull you in! There’s just about every genre of anime you can imagine! At the same time, they might not like waking up at the crack of dawn like you to fine-tune their tracking skills, but maybe you’ll change their minds. I mean, your moms met each other on Team RWBY. Maybe Team Neela will be where you meet the one!” Eliana told her getting worked up. Neela shook her head in disagreement. If only Eliana knew… “And yet here you are, calm as ever.”

       “It takes a lot of self-discipline, but you’re one to talk. Once we get out on the battlefield, you’ll be just as calm as I am right now!” Neela exclaimed. Eliana smiled and her eyes lit up.

       “I guess you’re right. I’ll be fine once I get out there, but until then, I’m just gonna keep thinking about it!” Eliana closed her locker and sat down, tapping her feet on the floor. Neela looked back at Eliana again who smiled at her. “Well come on slowpoke, what’s taking you so long?! At this rate, we’re gonna be late getting there, and I still need to eat something before we head out! Wouldn’t want to go into a full-blown fight with a couple of Grimm on an empty stomach!” Neela chuckled as she finished getting dressed and held the wooden case in her hands once again, closing her locker shut. This was it, wasn’t it? She had to give the gift to Eliana now, and it was going to be her best opportunity to open up to Eliana and reveal her feelings, her deep longing for something more. Her hands shook as she looked at it. “Ready to go?”

_ Actually, I have something to give you Elli… A gift that shows you just how much I care about you. I love you, Elli, you must have felt it before, right? Please… Please go out with me. Maybe we can go to dinner or a concert. A movie perhaps? Anything? That’s what I want to say Elli, but… _

       Neela had worked so hard to get her hands on these, and somewhere deep inside she had told herself that she’d be ready, but the truth was she wasn’t. Her heart stopped in her for a couple of seconds as everything around her faded and she finally came to the realization that maybe it was too much for her to worry about right now. Sure there was potential for Eliana to be stolen from her at every turn at this school, but Eliana had told her last night that they would be friends no matter what, and Neela believed it. The stress would be taken off of her if she could just accept the fact that maybe, for now, they could just be friends. Eliana would still cause her to become flustered, there was no question about it, there was something about the way that Eliana made her feel. However, Neela was okay with just being friends, and it sank in. If nothing else she would do it out of courtesy so that Eliana wouldn’t be thinking about in when they were in the forest.  

       Her focus returned and she smiled at the small container in her hand before looking back at Eliana who was giving her a puzzled look. She would give this gift to Eliana because Eliana meant everything to her as a friend and not anything more. Neela could be okay with that for now. She turned to face Eliana finally who noted the case and then returned her eyes to Neela. Neela was ready to show her and she knew that Eliana was going to love them.

       “What’s that?” Eliana asked. Neela held it out to her and she slowly took it, setting it gently in her lap. Eliana looked at it with wondering eyes, mystery filled her mind as she placed her hands slowly on the lid. She looked back at Neela, pleading to be relieved of the suspense. “Neela, what is this? Can I open it?” Neela nodded at her and Eliana slowly pried it open before looking inside and dropping it onto the floor, the dual Dust revolvers contained inside fell to the floor and Eliana fell to her knees, her hands covering her mouth as it skewed into a surprised gasp. “Neela… Neela what… These are…” Eliana placed her hands on the weapons before her face twisted into an overwhelming sadness that was tearing her apart, her eyes drowning. She looked up at Neela.

       “Exact replicas of the ones that your dad used when he was on the force,” Neela explained as her own eyes filled with tears of joy as she watched Eliana look back down at them, picking them up and examining them. Each had a grip that had her emblem burned into the wood and fit perfectly in her hand. The rest of the gun was streamlined, made of a purple and white metal that was light but felt comfortable in Eliana’s grip. It was all so familiar. The cylinder swung open to the side in a fluid motion and she snapped it back in, noting a dial just above the grip that would allow her to choose what Dust the bullet would be coated in. It was an  **exact** replica, down to the ability to unlock the grip and swing it upward, causing a tasing rod to extend out past the muzzle. Eliana’s hand trembled and she dropped them on the floor again, losing her nerve and falling to the ground in a heap. She cried heavily and Neela walked slowly to her as others peaked around the end of the row, watching the two of them. One glare from Neela gave them the go-ahead to leave before she caused them irreparable harm.

       “Neela, how did you get these? These aren’t his, are they?” Eliana asked, her voice muffled from covering her face. Neela wrapped her arms around Eliana’s shoulder who turned quickly, throwing Neela off balance and taking her to the ground, wrapping her arms around Neela and holding her tight. “I love them more than anything Neela! Thank you!” Neela smiled as she held Eliana in her arms and rested her head on Eliana’s shoulder. “I didn’t get you anything Neela, I’m sorry! I’ll make it up to you somehow!” Neela felt a wave of warmth and love come over her and she held tight to Eliana.  _ You already are. _

       “It’s fine.” Eliana pushed herself up and wiped the tears from her eyes as she picked the guns back up off of the floor and replaced her old guns with them. “You always wondered when I worked with my Aunt Weiss last summer if she gave me any cool new prototypes to try out as payment. I told her that your father’s revolvers were on display at the police station in Mistral and she sent a team immediately to scan them and draw up a set of schematics. After I finished my work there I told her that this was all I needed. Luckily while we were finishing our entrance exams my moms were able to go pick them up.” Eliana placed her old guns into the locker and smiled as tears welled in her eyes again.

       “I don’t know what to say right now Neela. You don’t know how much this means to me!” Eliana exclaimed. Neela beamed as she hugged her friend once more and let her go. “It’s like dad is with me wherever I go now. Not just in my soul, but standing beside me. When I hold these I can hear his voice, telling me not to grip them so tight, and not to close my eyes when I fire. I can hear him teaching me all over again. It’s amazing Neela!” Neela shuddered, she had never realized that they would have such an impact and she tried to understand what that might be like, but she had been so young when her birth parents died that she barely remembered them, with the exception of her mother’s laugh.

       “Don’t mention it. I’m glad that you like them so much. I knew how much you said you always wanted a pair just like them,” Neela told her. “Why don’t we go and get some breakfast?” Eliana nodded and smiled, closing her locker and leaving the room with Neela close behind her. They walked back through the Great Hall, the rest of the students finally waking up as their alarms went off and the staff came around, urging them to leave so that they could pull the stage back out. Neela peered out towards the cliff as they left the building, she imagined that she was able to see herself and Eliana sitting there as they had the night before, carefree and glad to be alive. Neela smiled and hoped that they’d have many more moments like that before they graduated. Eliana grabbed her hand and dragged her quickly towards the lunch room, pulling Neela away from her flashback and into the moment, quickly whisking her away.

       “You can’t know how happy and excited this makes me Neela!” Eliana declared as they stood in line with their trays to get their food. Eliana squealed and bumped into the student in front of her who looked back at her and grumbled slightly. “Sorry!” Eliana giggled and turned back to Neela who smiled at her. It always filled her with delight to see Eliana like this. “What should I name them? Oh Oum, so many things to think about? They’re amazing!” Neela laughed and nudged Eliana as the line started moving again. Eliana gave her a look of sudden realization. “So that’s why you picked those specialized ammo clusters up when we went shopping the other night. I knew they looked familiar. You told me they were for something Blake was working on.”

       “So I lied a little bit,” Neela replied shrugging.

       “Seriously though, what should I name them? It needs to be something awesome and unique!” Neela thought it over for a moment but came up blank.

       “What was the name of your dad’s,” Neela asked her. Eliana snorted as she covered her mouth, trying not to burst out into laughter. “Oh come on, they couldn’t have been that bad…”

       “Law and Order!” Eliana burst out into a laughter that caught the attention of the cafeteria full of half-awake students who offered them dirty glowers that Neela replied to with awkward waves and a fake smile, turning back to Eliana and trying to break her out of her laughing fit. Neela turned red as they continued to stare and she grabbed Eliana by the shoulders.

       “Are you serious?” Eliana nodded through the tears and Neela chuckled herself. “That’s awful. We can’t give them names like that.” Eliana nodded in agreement as she set her tray down on the bar and stood across from Neela, moving down and taking a few packets of syrup. “Any ideas?” Eliana shrugged.

       “What’s the name of yours?” Eliana asked as she glanced at where Neela’s sword was normally sheathed.

       “I haven’t thought of one yet,” Neela admitted sheepishly. Eliana smiled and nodded to the woman at the end of the bar.

       “Pancakes please!” Eliana exclaimed cheerfully as the worker slapped them on her plate and motioned for her to move along with a nod of her head. She turned back to Neela, waiting for a moment as she finished picking out her food and they sat down at a table near the kitchen. Eliana scarfed down her food, powering through her meal. “I think we should make it our goal to have them named by the end of the year. You can name mine and I’ll name yours!” Neela chuckled and nodded.

       “Deal! You should probably slow down though, you’re throwing that back as though you’ve never eaten before!” Neela told Eliana who stopped for a moment to breathe before continuing. Eliana shook her head, suffocating in syrup as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Seriously, slow down.”

       “I’ll be fine. If I choke, you’ll be here. If I pass out though, are you willing to give me mouth to mouth?” Neela shoved her and Eliana smiled as she continued inhaling her food.

       “Of course I would! But I’d rather that we didn’t have to test that theory!” Neela exclaimed.

       “Speaking of which, I’m a little surprised that your mom bought that last night about us in the closet,” Eliana explained. Neela could feel herself turning red and looked away from Eliana. “I mean, I guess it could happen. You do have two moms and I won’t say that I haven’t been curious about it before, I just thought that she would question it a bit more.” Neela buried her head in her arms as she was sure that her face had to be the color of Ruby’s cape at this point. She shook her head and took a deep breath in, looking up quickly and at Eliana again who was too focused on her pancakes to notice.

       “Please slow down. Just a little bit. What’s the rush anyways, we still have an hour and a half or so before we have to think about heading out to the forest,” Neela reminded her.

       “Are you kidding me,” she managed between bites with her mouth full. “I need to go faster then, I want to go try these out before we get to the forest!” Neela smiled again as she slowly drank her orange juice, thinking over the morning and feeling satisfied with everything that had happened so far. If the rest of their time at Beacon was this easy going, they were going to be set. “So, when are we going to start training for Vytal Festival?” Neela gave her a sideways glance and shook her head.

       “Not even through our first full day and you’re already bringing up Vytal?” Neela asked. “That’s not for another whole year!” Eliana scoffed and finished her milk in record time, sitting for a long moment and watching Neela eat. “I haven’t even begun to think about Vytal with all of the other chaos going on in my mind. Today, classes starting tomorrow, fitting in regular training, and maybe getting a part-time job… And somehow you think that I still have time to think about Vytal?”

       “So? It’s never too early to train for that sort of thing. Priorities, right?” Eliana asked. “Hurry up, I want to go shoot things! Please???”

       “Give me a moment!” Neela declared laughing again. She finished her oatmeal and dumped her tray into the trash with Eliana, taking the apple she had picked out with her so that she could eat it while waiting to head out to the forest. They headed towards one of the firing ranges near the back of the dorms and Neela spotted her mother watching her from the tower. Yang waved as Blake elbowed her in the ribs, causing her to stop.

       “Don’t embarrass her Yang!” Blake scolded Yang as they headed into the tower and climbed into the elevator, pressing the button for the top floor. Yang smiled as she stood across from Blake, her arms folded. She shrugged slightly and tilted her head. She moved across the elevator, wrapping her arms around Blake and pulling her in for a kiss, pouting at her wife as Blake’s expression remained the same.

       “Come on Blake, don’t be such a sourpuss!” Yang exclaimed. Blake concealed a smile as she shook her head, looking at the pattern on the floor as they climbed higher.

       “Your puns are the worst,” Blake muttered. “I hate you sometimes.”

       “You saw our little birdy back there! She’s out of the nest and flying on her own finally! She’s all grown up and she looked so happy! I hope that things are going well between her and Eliana,” Yang voiced her concern to Blake.

       “I’m sure they are. Don’t worry about her so much,” Blake told Yang. Yang smirked and took a step back.

       “You’re going to try and tell me you’re not worried? When you finally got back to the house last night Neela was all you could talk about. ‘Neela and Elli snuck out. Neela got into a fight this morning. Neela and Elli might have been making out in the closet.’” Yang stopped for a moment and thought over the last statement. “Wait, I was half asleep when you climbed into bed last night, did Elli really say that they were making out?” Blake nodded.

       “She implied it anyways,” Blake replied. She nodded for Yang to turn around as the doors slid open and they stepped into Glynda’s tower office. Yang immediately spotted her sister’s cape that she could recognize in any crowd and Ruby spun around as she heard the elevator arrive.

       “Yang!” Ruby exclaimed as she spotted her sister and flew across the room crashing into her. The wrestled with each other on the floor as Blake laughed and stepped over the two of them, nodding at Glynda. “It’s been too long!”

       “Hey, sis! I didn’t know that you were going to be here today!” Yang exclaimed as they both finally found their feet and walked out of the elevator to Glynda’s desk.

       “I didn’t know either. I really had to twist some arms on the Peace Council in order for them to let me have the day off. I wanted to be here to see how Neela does during the initiation,” Ruby exclaimed as she took the seat across from Glynda’s desk. Glynda gave them all a polite smile before she turned back to the window and stared out at the chaos below. She was sure that this wasn’t the most unruly that the students had ever been, she knew it was the same every year. Yet every year without fail she had a hard time believing that in only four short years, these children would be the ones that they would entrust to protect their lives. “The Council is very impressed with her skills. If I pull enough strings, she might be able to report directly to me in a few years---“

       “Ruby tells me that you were able to get your hands on one of Mercury’s men,” Glynda spoke cutting Ruby off, still facing away from them. Ruby looked up at Blake and Yang who stood above her and they exchanged glances before Yang spoke up.

       “Orion, yes. He hasn’t given us a last name yet and the police don’t have one on record for him. We have a pretty good concept of his power set and paired with the fact that he’s trapped in the secret vault north of Mountain Glenn, there’s little to no chance that he’ll receive help from anyone in escaping,” Yang explained. Glynda didn’t give anybody expression that would indicate that she heard them or that she felt one way or another in the matter.

       “And the Council is okay with this?” Glynda asked after a moment. Ruby scoffed as she shifted in her seat.

       “Hardly, I wasn’t able to tell them very much per your request. However, I am given the ability to override any decision once every few months and with what information you had given us before on the matter, I decided to risk wasting my executive powers over the Council on this dilemma,” Ruby explained. “We can’t discuss this with you now, can we?” Glynda sighed as she turned back towards them.

       “I’m afraid not. It has nothing to do with the three of you, I would trust Team RWBY with my life before I would trust anyone else, but Ozpin had his rules and they were always there for a reason, no matter how pointless and needless they seemed. What you four discussed when Blake and Yang came to visit you and Weiss last week is all that we know on the matter and it’s all that I can tell you at this time. Not even the Council can know what you’ve been informed of. Blake, we need to start heading towards the Emerald Forest, they will be beginning soon,” Glynda told them. Blake nodded and gave Yang a kiss.

       “Tell me more about what Eliana said to you last night?” Yang pleaded under her breath quickly.

       “Yes! Later!” Blake replied in a hurry and followed Glynda out. The elevator closed and Ruby and Yang were left alone in the tower, they walked to the glass and watched the students below. Ruby smiled before laughing to herself. The light from the sun glinted off of her silver eyes and Yang felt as though they were teenagers all over again, sent to Ozpin’s office to be thanked for stopping Roman Torchwick. Ruby had been mesmerized by the view the first time, and it seemed to capture her imagination once again.

       “I remember it all like it was yesterday,” Ruby told her sister. “You ditching me. Weiss blowing up. Meeting Jaune. Wanting to have normal knees.” Ruby laughed with Yang for a moment. “And now your daughter is out there making her very own memories. It’s hard to imagine that someday this class might even outdo us. I’ve seen a lot of strong students here in the last day. Neela, Eliana, the militant that Weiss recommended, the student that Glynda allowed in that was running away from Vacuo, all of them. They’re a strong group.”

       “That might be true, but you remember how cold the world can be. How unforgiving it was to us before we found out just how strong we truly were,” Yang told Ruby. “I just don’t want Neela to have to suffer like we did just to find the inner strength that she possesses. She’s worked too hard, she doesn’t deserve that.” Ruby nodded in agreement and watched as the first years began to gather in the courtyard. “Ruby, what if we aren’t able to stop Mercury in time? What if he finds them?”

       “The Council does make it difficult to do anything right away with all of the red tape that we have to go through now. If only Ozpin hadn’t been so secretive perhaps they’d be open to deciding things more quickly,” Ruby said.

       “But he had his reasons, and they were all justified in the end,” Yang replied. They both knew that already though. They both knew how Mercury worked and they both knew that his bottom line was getting paid. What they didn’t know was who was paying him, and what power they were seeking.

* * *

**ONE WEEK EARLIER**

       Blake slowly opened the door to the ranch-style house as Yang peered over her shoulder, slightly confused over whether or not they actually had the right house. Blake looked back at Yang who offered nothing more than a shrug as Shadow snuck past them and Blake reached out to grab her. The clone dissipated and Blake stood there in disbelief as Yang chuckled, silenced as Blake elbowed her in the stomach.

       “Hello? Ruby? Weiss?” Blake called out.

       “In the kitchen!” Ruby called back out. Shadow ran towards Ruby’s voice, laughing as she tore through the living room and leapt into Ruby’s arms. “Hey, little kitty! Auntie Ruby hasn’t seen you in such a long time!” Ruby snuggled her and swore that Shadow purred as she rubbed her head against Ruby’s chest. “Are you guys coming in or do I have to come and get you?” Blake and Yang stepped in and closed the door behind them, leaving their shoes on a small shelf set up near the doorway and crossing through the small homey living room. Blake had a look of confusion on her face as Yang stopped behind her and wrapped her arms around her wife.

       “I’m confused. I know the two of you said that you wanted to move, but this is quite the difference from Schnee Manor,” Blake stated as she admired the cozy kitchen. Weiss closed the oven and turned to face them, displaying a “Kiss the cook” apron as she offered a smile. Yang’s face skewed and she leaned into Blake’s ear.

       “Now I’m confused,” Yang whispered.

       “Hey! I heard that!” Weiss exclaimed. She crossed her arms and pouted as Ruby carried Shadow over to her.

       “Isn’t she cute in that apron,” Ruby asked. She grinned and kissed Weiss on the cheek. “It was my idea.” Blake rolled her eyes, chuckling.

       “Of course it was,” Blake offered. Ruby set Shadow down who took off, examining the house for any trace of her cousin Amelia.

       “Amelia Rose! Shadow is here to play with you! No glyphs in the house!” Weiss called out. Yang and Blake sat at the petit square table with Weiss and Ruby sitting across from them.

       “Glyphs already huh? That’s impressive!” Yang declared. Weiss smiled, closing her eyes and looking proudly towards the ceiling.

       “She does have Schnee blood in her after all!” Weiss declared. Blake chuckled again.

       “I’m sure that’s it,” Blake stated. Weiss folded her arms and gave a humph of disapproval. She turned away to emphasize her point.

       “And what’s that supposed to mean?” Weiss asked. She peeked back at Blake and the two of them began to laugh at each other.

       “Isn’t this great?! All of us having a day together!” Ruby exclaimed as she leapt up and grabbed glasses out of the cabinet. “Anyone want anything to drink?”

       “I’ll take coffee if you’ve got some,” Yang replied.

       “Milk,” Blake followed.

       “Some water with a bit of ice if you would,” Weiss finished. Ruby nodded and got to work preparing their drinks. Yang slouched back slightly in her chair and stretched.

       “I bet the two of you don’t have days off together very often,” Yang offered as she took her arm off. She waved her elbow around in circles, trying to stretch out the best that she could. “That must be rough.”

       “I miss her when she’s gone, but I know that she’s busy making the world a better place,” Weiss said as she looked back at Ruby who was balancing a glass full of water on her head for no apparent reason. Weiss’s smile twisted and she looked back at the other two. “That’s Ruby. She’s a real warrior.” Yang laughed.

       “It’s the same for me. I miss her when I’m gone or when she’s at work, but I know that what we’re doing will keep Amelia safe for many years to come,” Ruby replied as she pulled the glass off of her head and finished making their beverages and brought them over. “I still can’t get over the fact that Weiss and I have a child of our own. It wouldn’t have been possible without the scientists over at Schnee Dust and the Atlas Military.”

       “I’m surprised that it’s as easy as extracting Aura from one person and adding it to another’s,” Yang said.

       “It’s not exactly that cut and dry. First…” Weiss began to explain but was cut off by the kitchen timer sounding. “Amelia’s cookies!” Weiss leapt to her feet and ran to the oven. “Ruby… I need the glove.”

       “Glove?” Blake asked. Ruby giggled.

       “The oven mitt?” Ruby asked holding back.

       “Yes!” Weiss exclaimed in a panic. Blake shook her head as Ruby giggled again.

       “Hanging above the sink next to you there,” Ruby told her. Weiss snatched it down quick and pulled the pan out, putting it on the stove and snatching the glove off, setting it down on the counter.

       “There!” Weiss exclaimed. Blake and Yang looked at her with concern and met Ruby’s eyes.

       “She’s still getting used to not having a butler,” Ruby explained. Weiss sat back down, seemingly exhausted.

       “So, do you have the revolvers?” Blake asked. Weiss smiled as she caught her breath and leaned down, picking up a wooden chest from under the table and setting it down on top.

       “They were a bit tricky to make, but it wasn’t anything that my weapons design team over at Atlas Academy couldn’t handle,” Weiss explained. She opened the box and they all peered inside for a long moment, looking them over. Blake reached out to touch them but Weiss slammed it shut and Blake snatched her hand back. “I’m sorry but make sure you tell Neela not to touch them either. The grips have a palm scanner, and they will only work for the first person who fully grasps them. For someone who was never in the Atlas military, whoever the originals belonged to, must have had some connections. This is state of the art technology for as old as they were. The grip contains Dust compartments that are selected with a small dial. Then, when the trigger is pulled, as the bullet exits, the Dust ejects from the barrel through a small pipe of sorts fastened underneath, coating the bullet. It should also be noted that it uses a surprisingly small amount of dust each time. She could probably fire 20 of each type before having to fully refill it.”

       “That sounds impressive,” Yang said. Ruby sighed.

       “I love it when she uses big words,” Ruby said happily.  _ What in that statement was a big word,  _ Blake wondered. Weiss glared at Ruby shaking her head.

       “You dolt.” She smirked and looked back at Blake. “Who’s the special guy? You said these were a gift right? Neela said that she would refuse any other payment that I gave her, though these guns are hardly enough to repay her for everything she did over the summer.” Blake chuckled.

       “ _ Her _ name is Eliana,” Blake said. Yang laughed as well and finally reattached her arm.

       “But Eliana doesn’t know how Neela feels yet,” Yang explained.

       “Does Neela know that she feels this way about Eliana,” Ruby asked. Blake thought about it for a moment.

       “To be honest, she’s never said anything to us explicitly about it,” Blake responded. “But I’ve got my suspicions.”

       “I don’t know if I’d call it a suspicion,” Yang added. “I used to see the same look in your eyes when you looked at me.” Blake blushed slightly and Weiss and Ruby laughed. Yang looked across the table at Ruby. “So, school doesn’t start back up for a week yet, but we were told by Glynda that you have some Intel that we need to be informed of.” Ruby looked at Weiss who nodded and she stood up, pulling the folder off of the top of the fridge and placing it in the middle of the table. Across it was the word “RELICS” and over that was stamped “CLASSIFIED”.

       “This is for our team alone to know. Team JNPR can’t know. We can’t tell Coco or Velvet. This has to stay in this room. Those were the instructions that I was given by Glynda,” Ruby told them. She opened the folder and on top was a picture of Ozpin’s Cane.

       “We’re all aware of that relic,” Weiss said. Yang looked at Blake with concern before they both looked back at Weiss.

       “You mean there’s more than one?” Yang asked. Ruby nodded.

       “According to Glynda, Ozpin had always kept to himself, but through the use of his cane, he left behind messages that would reveal things about his past after a certain amount of time. It was his contingency plan, should he ever die before his plan was fully realized. The most recent message delivered to Qrow via the cane was about these relics. Ozpin stated that he and Salem had once worked together long ago, to try and protect their land from other nations that had formed and meant to attack. Using their magic, they created three relics, one that would bend time, one that could produce life, and one that could kill,” Ruby explained. “We already knew about the cane. Ozpin went on to say that the other two relics were lost when he fought with Salem over how the one that could kill should be destroyed. This fight is what ultimately drove the two apart and caused the events that led us to where we are today.”

       “Is that all he said?” Blake asked, prying further. Ruby nodded.

       “With the exception of informing Qrow that they needed to be found before Salem found them, he didn’t give a description of how they looked or anything,” Ruby finished. They all sat in silence for a long moment. “Glynda thinks we might have a lead though.”

       “How’s that?” Yang asked.

       “It is a bit of a stretch, but she says with the formation of Mercury’s Gang in Vale, she wonders if there isn’t a larger evil behind him,” Weiss explained. Blake shook her head.

       “Wouldn’t we know about it by now though? We’ve been in peace for such a long time!” Blake reminded them.

       “True,” Ruby agreed. “But Mercury has always been one to follow. Glynda thinks the gang is a front.” Yang sat back and took it all in as Ruby gathered the files back up and closed the folder.

       “For what?” Yang asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the read! If you're enjoying this, make sure you give it a follow and a kudos! Next week the students take on their biggest challenge yet in Chapter 10 - Initiation (Part 1)!


	14. Initiation (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children begin their initiation in the Emerald Forest and we meet Bái Lung, who there might be more to than meets the eye.

Ilia walked in the back of the mass of students as they headed out towards the cliffside, led by Coco Adel as they trekked through the woods that grew denser as they continued on. There were about twenty of them altogether, a pretty sizable class, which would end up forming five teams. Ilia had tossed her packet away with the exception of the map of the school grounds and her schedule and wondered if there was anything that she should have read over before she haphazardly tossed it into the waste bin in the lunchroom. She was sure that they would tell them all again what they would be doing when they reached the cliff, but she felt ill-prepared and intimidated by the fact that all of her classmates had looks of determination. It wasn't that she didn't feel the same, but she normally felt better when she was on her own. Instead, she was preceded by nineteen other teenagers, all with their own stories, abilities, and determination to succeed.

Ilia didn't need to be the best, she just needed to be good enough to escape her demons. She took a deep breath, trying to let the fact sink in.  _I'm going to share a room with three other people. They aren't going to leave just because I want them to. This is how it has to be._  Knowing this didn't settle her nerves, however, and she continued trudging along, doubting ever having decided that this was the best idea she had come up with. She could stop now. She could just turn around, return to running, and keep running until she had lived her complete life in constant fear of being caught. Or she could stay. She could train, learn how to properly fight, and she could overcome her past. Both options pulled at her as she continued with the group.

What if the group she was stuck with was a bunch of party animals and she wouldn't be able to get any studying done? What if she ended up on a team of really hot guys? The best case scenario that she could think of was if they were a bunch of bookworms. They'd all leave her alone, and she could probably get them to help her with math or history from time to time if she was lucky. She bumped into a few of the students in front of her who glanced back at her and she rubbed the back of her head.

"Sorry. Started daydreaming," she told them. They brushed her off and carried on with their conversation.

"See that cute girl up there in the blue?" One of the guys said in front of her gesturing ahead to a shorter student that had her black hair done up in a side braid that waterfalled down over her right shoulder. The girl in the blue looked over at another student that she had accidentally nudged and bowed her head in apology, allowing Ilia to make out her near-white eyes. It was easy to tell that the girl was from Mistral from the clothes that she wore.

A brown, one-shouldered tank top fit nicely on her slender frame, her right shoulder was partially concealed by a dull blue sleeve that came down to about her elbow, offset by a light blue, sheer sash that was wrapped over the same shoulder, coming down across her body at a diagonal where it wrapped back around her body just below her bosom and was pinned in place on her back. Her left arm was covered in copper colored bracelets, and a leather cord wrapped around her forearm. A similar sash with the same coloring appeared to be wrapped around her pelvis, protruding from the waistline of her pants to hug both hips and exiting on the side to form a hip cape. She wore dull blue matching harem pants that were more or less capris length and brown flats to complete her look, a total outsider. If she was trying to avoid being noticed by everyone else, she was failing in the worst of ways.

"Yeah, I see her," the other student replied. The first leaned in closed and Ilia looked at them for a moment, wondering what they were discussing and doing her best to eavesdrop.

"Her name's Bái Lung. They say that she's some kind of freak," the first told his friend. A wicked smile spread across the other's face and he rubbed his hands together.

"Really?" He asked, lust seething out with the words. The first grabbed him tight by the shoulder and he winced.

"Not like that. Like she has a semblance like the rest of us, but it's not natural," the first explained further.

"She's got a nice shape though. I'd like to know what she looks like under those clothes," the other replied. Ilia bumped into them on purpose this time, disgusted with their conversation and they turned back towards her again.

"Do you mind?" The first asked. She gave him a twisted smile and smashed his head against her knee, causing him to yelp as she grabbed him by the nape of his neck.

"If you two keep talking about her like that, we're gonna go a couple rounds, and you're gonna get way worse than a bloody nose, okay?" She asked. They both nodded at her and she threw him into his friend, putting distance between herself and them.

"Problem?" Coco asked calling towards the back. Ilia raised her hand up and shook her head.

"No problem here!" She replied. Coco smirked and continued on her way. Ilia fell back a touch further and thought over what she had heard. What did he mean by that? Who was to say that she didn't have a normal semblance, they were all different in some way. Ilia looked around at the forest around her and soaked it all in. Vacuo wasn't like that. It was desert towns and harsh unforgiving terrain that didn't give way to such lush and green scenery. She bent down, running her fingers through the grass. It wasn't as though she had never seen grass before, but somehow, for the first time, she realized just how much she appreciated where she was at. It was miles ahead of what she was used to looking at day after day and she welcomed it in stride.

"Hello students, for those of you who don't already know, my name is Coco Adel, and I will be one of the judges during the initiation. Yes, you will be graded on your performance today, so give it all you've got. First, let me lay down a few of the obvious ground rules that will get you expelled almost immediately. If you get into combat with another student, you will be sent home without a second chance. If you place one of your classmates in danger on purpose, you will also be sent packing. Lastly, if the initiation is called off for any reason and you choose to continue fighting instead of falling back as is requested of you in such a situation, you fight at your own risk and your survival is not guaranteed," She explained. She stopped and turned back to look at all of them. "No one has died during one of these yet, but let's try to keep this year from being the first. Any questions before we arrive at the ridge?"

"Is it true that the first person you look at is your teammate for the next four years," someone called out.

"Yes!" Coco replied. "You?" Titus cleared his throat.

"Is there any sort of appeals system that we can go through if we are dissatisfied with our teammate," Titus asked. Coco smirked and shook her head.

"Let me make this very clear! There are no appeals and no changing of teammates once your team is selected! You just have to grow a pair and learn to work with whoever you end up with! Your every move will be observed once you've landed!" Coco replied. She winked at Titus over her glasses and he gritted his teeth, mumbling under his breath to himself. "We've got time for a couple more! There is no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid people asking questions!"

"Are you single?" One of the two from before asked. The group broke out into a chuckle and Coco smiled.

"Not for you I'm not!" A few catcalls and wolf whistles sounded out above the crowd. "One more?!"

"Tell us a little about yourself!" Eliana called out, her eyes filled with stars, knowing full well who Coco was without having to be told. Eliana had an unhealthy obsession of sorts with everyone involved with the Fall of Beacon. Neela shook her head and took a step to the side, placing a gap between the two of them. "What?"

"That's not a question, but I'm more than happy to tell you kids a few things. I was on Team CFVY, a 2nd-year team that was here at the school the night the tower fell. I am married to my best friend, Velvet, and she has adorable bunny ears. We have one kid together at this point, but to be honest, I'd like to have another. That's it, for now, boys and girls, make sure not to shove and please proceed to the clearing ahead where you will find both Headmistress Goodwitch and Ms. Xiao Long waiting for you." Eliana looked at Neela with a smile, overwhelmed with excitement. "Good luck and I will see some of you in my class tomorrow."

"Your mom is here?" Eliana asked ecstatically. Neela nodded.

"You seem surprised, but she  _is_  the assistant to Headmistress Goodwitch. It would only make sense that she'd be anywhere that Glynda is," Neela replied. Eliana thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Eliana agreed. The woods finally opened up, and the students found themselves on the edge of a cliff, Glynda and Blake standing nearby with scrolls in hand. Blake looked hers over, acknowledging Neela but trying to avoid distracting her daughter. She took a deep breath. Neela was about to begin her life without her and Yang. This initiation was the first step, and once she was in that forest, she would shine. Blake tried to maintain her nerves.  _You can do it Neela. This is it. This is the day I knew would cause my heart to swell. You've become such an amazing young woman. You'll do well, I know it._

"Please, take a place on one of the pads," Glynda told them, directing to stone panels that rested on the ground with the Beacon Academy Emblem chiseled into each. "As I'm sure you've already been instructed or have heard, the first person that you see after you have landed will be your partner. You will then need to proceed to the other end, where you will find an abandoned temple filled with relics. You and your partner must choose one of the relics and then decide on an exit strategy, leaving the forest below up any of the cliff sides is allowed and considered the end of your initiation. There are Grimm in the forest below so make sure that you are aware of your surroundings." Eliana looked at Neela who smiled at her and Eliana gave her a thumbs up.

"Find me?" Eliana asked.

"I'll do my best," Neela told her.

"Are you all ready?" Glynda asked. They all nodded and crouched slightly. "Then let's begin." Glynda activated something on her scroll and the furthest launch pad from her activated, throwing the first student into the forest. "I hope that you all planned a landing strategy ahead of time." Neela nodded for her own sake. She was ready. She looked at Eliana who looked concerned and Neela softened for a moment.

"What's wrong," asked Neela. The student three positions down from her launched.

"I don't really have a landing strategy," Eliana told her. Neela looked at her wide-eyed as she could hear the guy beside her being thrown into the air. She looked ahead.

"Good luck." Neela launched off with Eliana being the last, she'd be taking off in a little over five seconds. Ruby and Yang stepped up to the cliff as Eliana was sent airborne and peered out as they landed.

"Nervous?" Ruby asked Blake. Blake bit her lip and shook her head and cycled through her scroll to Neela's feed so that they could watch.

"Why would I need to be nervous?" Blake asked. Yang shook her head.

"She's nervous. Just give it a couple of minutes, you'll see," Yang told Ruby. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Velvet joined them. Glynda looked at the group.

"Are we ready?" She asked. Coco nodded as she handed them each a specialized scroll that was connected to the forest's feed.

"What are the relics this year?" Ruby asked. Blake smirked as she zoomed in on the feed.

"The chess pieces," she replied. Ruby's eyes lit up.

"The same ones that we had to bring back?!" Ruby asked. Blake nodded.

"Same as every year," Yang replied. Ruby glanced around at them confused for a moment.

"Ozpin said they were selected randomly!" Ruby exclaimed. None of them looked up from their scrolls to acknowledge her.

"Of course he said that. You wouldn't want the new first years being told by the upperclassmen what the trick is," Glynda explained.

* * *

Lykos Asimi came to a stop as he swung down from the branch of a tree, carrying his momentum as his feet hit the ground and running until he reached a small glade in the midst of the forest, only large enough for several Ursai to occupy if there had been some in the area. He stopped, looking around and listening hard for a moment before lying flat on his chest and placing his ear to the earth. He remained motionless, his body loose as he breathed slowly, trying to determine where he could feel it coming from. Grimm. Maybe it was the way he was raised, or perhaps it was part of his semblance, but Lykos had always had an innate sense of being able to detect where Grimm were at and where they were heading. He slowly drew everything in and closed his eyes, listening once again. He could feel them, and they were alarmingly close.

His eyes slowly opened as he determined that two Beowolves were less than a few feet from him and were coming from around the trees, curious as to what had made such a ruckus a moment ago. They lumbered towards him as he lied still, breathing slowly still as they were directly above him now and one of them bent down, smelling him. It was no use for them though, Lykos knew full well that the Grimm would not attack him because the pelt made it difficult for them to distinguish him as human and they could only smell fear. Lykos however, did not fear the Grimm monsters as most did. At least not such common ones that could be found anywhere around the outskirts of Vale.

He looked up for a moment, watching as they continued on their way, uninterested in Lykos and he watched as they turned their attention towards the north, the opposite direction from which he had come, leading him to wonder if there was someone else up ahead. Lykos took off running past them, stopping as he passed a tree and noted markings, the wood appeared to be freshly splintered on the side and he knew that this was the work of someone who had dropped into the forest only a few minutes ago. The Beowolves passed him again and he looked them over, feeling the same thing that they could and kneeling close to the ground as he listened closely. Up ahead, somebody was clearly yelling at someone and Lykos contemplating staying out of it for a moment.

What could they have to offer, and if they already had a partner, it more or less made them his competition. At the same time, they would be allies in the near future, and that was something that Lykos could use more of at some point. One of them was afraid and their fear was thick, the Beowolves had started to pick up their pace and Lykos stood as he grabbed the hilt attached to his hip, activating the switch. A series of shuriken that were magnetically held to the inside of his pelt lit up and began to spin quickly before they detached and came together to form a whip at the end of the bladeless handle using electromagnets. He swung it, catching a branch and pulling himself up. He lifted into the air and landed on a branch, free running through the trees across limbs and larger branches as he neared the destination of the Grimm's interest. He gripped the whip firmly as he found what was causing the fuss.

"You're that Bái that they were talking about before, aren't you?" The boy asked as he pushed her against a tree and held his dagger against her neck, licking his lips before moving to her ear and pressing the weapon against her skin. He shivered as she pushed her body as far back as she could into the trunk of the tree. "I'm gonna give you one last chance to show me that power of yours before I use my blade here to take these ridiculous looking clothes off of you and show you my 'secret power.' It's completely your choice. Simple really. Exciting, isn't it?"

"Someone will see you and they'll send you home! Haven't you worked hard to get here like the rest of us? You don't want to throw that all away just so that you can take advantage of me, do you?!" Bái cried as he pushed her harder, his blade slowly tracing down the middle of her neck and moving to her shoulder, stopping under the shoulder strap that held her tank top on. He chuckled and grabbed her by the jaw with his free hand. She struggled to break free, but he had a distinct size advantage.

"To be honest, this is the sort of thing I came for. Small, weak women that I could overpower and do what I wanted with. As far as them watching everything, they just want you to think that. No one can see us here, and if they can, I'll just use my semblance. It creates a vacuum kind of defense mechanism. No sound gets in or out, and the image behind is displayed on the front of the barrier. No one is going to hear or see a thing except for me and you, so unless you decide to be a good little girl and show me that semblance of yours, we're going to make a bad girl out of you," he told her. Tears swam in her eyes as she squirmed, trying to maintain her composure, Lykos could hear that she was trying to slow her breathing. Why was she trying to hold back on this jackass? Lykos reached back and slipped his hands into two fingerless leather gloves that had been magnetically attached to the inside of his pelt. They covered his forearms up to his elbows and had five magnets attached on the underside of each. He activated a switch on his whip and the shurikens jumped off, covering the inside of his forearms. He pulled three off of his right arm and held them in his left hand. "Just think. Now that we're teammates, we'll be sleeping in the same room together. Why wait to make it official, you know you'll want it at some point."

"Don't do this, please. Bad things will happen," She begged. His knife slightly tore the strap and he laughed in her ear, biting it lightly. She squealed, crying and pushing back against him. "Please…"

"Oh, I know. Because I'm going to do bad things to you," he told her. Lykos mind flashed back to his father grabbing his mother and throwing her onto the floor of their hut.

_When I get home from drinking, I expect you to give it to me like a good bitch!_

_I'm the only reason that there is a roof over your head, and you can't even offer to make love to me as thanks?!_

_Why did I marry you if you won't even put out when I want you to?!_

Lykos body trembled internally as his hands gripped tighter at the shurikens. He knew that below was that kid with Bái, but all that he could see was his parents in their places.

"Stop fighting me you little slut, you know you'll like it," he told Bái as he kissed her neck. She shoved him off of her for a moment and she made an attempt to run for it, but he planted her against the tree hard and held the dagger to her neck again. "You know it's what you want!"

"I don't want to! Stop!" She screamed at him.

_Lykos, mommy is okay. I'll be okay Lykos, just go before daddy hurts you too._

_I'll be okay…_

Lykos eyes filled with a rage that he had long suppressed and he let out an animalistic yell, leaping to the ground and throwing the shurikens, two of them slicing the assailants arms and the third knocking the dagger out of his hand. He flicked the handle, the shurikens returning quickly and reforming his whip with the others. Lykos pulled his hood down to slightly conceal his face and his eyes turned red as he stared into the man's eyes, locking him into a trance. Before the student's eyes, Lykos transformed into a Beringel and terror filled him. He pointed, shaking as he fell onto his face trying to run and pointed at the beast.

"What the hell kind of ability is that?!" He demanded, his skin white as he trembled. Lykos bent down, looking at him for a long moment before roaring again and causing the student to take off into the woods, fleeing for his life. All that Bái had seen was Lykos whose eyes had become red, staring intensely into the eyes of her attacker whose eyes reflected Lykos' semblance. Lykos released his power and stood soundly in victory, watching his opponent fly through the forest as fast as his feet would carry him. His chest heaved and he turned to Bái who blushed but was out of breath herself.

"Thank you…" She began. She was cut off as he pulled her in with his whip, pulling her away from the tree and into his arms as it fell over, the Beowolves had arrived and decided that they were ready to feed off her fear. She stared up at him, slightly perplexed as he held on to her. He released her for a moment and sprinted out towards them, whipping the one to his right away and effectively deterring it for a moment as he pulled the second one down, kneeing it in the chin. He pried its mouth open, activating his whip and causing his projectiles to become rigid, shoving it into the Grimm's mouth as if it were a sword. He ejected the shuriken and leapt back, activating his weapon again. The throwing stars burst forth from the creature's chest, killing it but not leaving Lykos with enough time to defend from the other Beowolf. He closed his eyes and prepared for an impact that never came.

When he opened them again, the Grimm had been killed with several dozen ice projectiles that stuck out of its torso. It fell to the forest floor and dissipated as Lykos looked back at Bái. Her eyes lit up a light electric blue color and she waved her hands in front of her, as though she was manipulating some unseen object. Shards of ice levitated around her and he tilted his head slightly. Was this it? Was this what everyone was so terrified of? She dropped her hands to her side and the ice crashed to the ground, causing her to startle and she looked at her hands. She trembled slightly and fell to her knees as he walked over to her, steadying her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't hurt you, did I?" She asked. He shook his head. She was a curious one, and he wondered if she was aware of what was going on when she used her power.

"No, you saved me. Thank you," He told her. She looked up at him, caught in his eyes before blushing and standing quickly, pushing him away and brushing herself off. "Are you okay though?" She nodded. She looked at the strap of her dress, grabbing it and examining it closer. There was nothing that she could do about it now, she'd have to hope that it would hold together.

"I'm fine now, thank you for saving me…" She told him. "I guess I don't know your name." He smirked and extended his hand for her to shake.

"Lykos." She took it, looking at him as though she a watched him do something miraculous and she shook his hand, smiling and blushing all over again.

"Bái." They stood there in silence as Lykos looked around the immediate area for any threats. She kicked her foot in the dirt and looked around as well. "I guess that makes us teammates." He smirked again.

"I guess so." He took her hand and pulled her in again, using his whip to pull them both into the treetops, perching on the limb that they landed on and smelling the air. "Stay close, okay?" She nodded. She wasn't about to let him out of her sight.

_Lykos. His name is Lykos and he saw my curse. What I noticed most above all though, is that he wasn't scared. He isn't scared of me. I think he's the first one to ever not run away from me in fear. I'm not sure what this feeling is inside of me, but I can't explain it. I need him to stay close. He isn't afraid…_

Bái stayed close behind Lykos as they moved quickly through the trees and closer to their target at the north end of the Emerald Forest. When Bái had first landed a couple of minutes ago she was momentarily caught up in the beauty of her surroundings but was quickly distracted when that pervert showed up and demanded to see her powers. He said they all heard that she was some kind of monster. Bái felt a deep pain as she thought about it. That was what they called her back home, wasn't it? A monster. Just because she seemed different and no one would stay with her long enough to find out why or how. She owed Lykos a great debt. Had he shown up any later she might have lost her composure, and it would have been the end of her time at Beacon for sure.

Now she was worried that Lykos might not be allowed to stay just because he had decided to step in and help her, but it wasn't his fault! No, if they told Lykos that he had to leave for helping her, she would walk out that same day! Surely just this one time they would make an exception, that student would have raped her otherwise! No, the fact that they would expel him for such a heroic act was unthinkable. They wouldn't, would they?

"You don't think that they'll make you leave because you saved me, do you?" she asked. He gave a thoughtful chuckle and continued through the canopy.

"I couldn't stand by and let that happen to you. No one deserves that kind of treatment," he told her. He confirmed it. Though she had only known him for a few moments, and he was the only one who had ever not run from her in fear, she knew now that people could be compassionate. She only hoped that the rest of their team would treat her the same way that he was. Bái slipped as her mind drifted and she fell to the ground, landing hard and laying on the ground momentarily as her mind caught up with the situation. Lykos leapt down and checked on her. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine, I might need just a moment," she told him. Lykos heard a growling and removed his whip again, slowly circling and counting at least five Ursai. "They don't plan on making this very easy for us, do they?" Bái managed to find her feet and stood as they found themselves surrounded. He moved the shurikens to his arms and grabbed three in each hand, throwing them and taking out two of the Ursai as the other three charged in. Bái quickly threw her hands up, forming an ice wall between them and the beasts, giving Lykos a moment to draw his throwing stars back in and reattach them to the whip.

"Up?" Lykos shouted as he ran for the barrier she had created and leapt. She formed a temporary platform that shattered as he jumped off, tearing through the Ursai. She clenched her fists and threw them down, smashing the wall into pieces and forming an ice blade in her hand. She sliced through an Ursa as Lykos finished off the other two and watched her dispatch the last. She looked at him, hoping that he would give her some sign of approval, but she could tell that he was already prepared to move on. "We need to keep moving." She nodded to him, the blade in her hand cracking and shattering into fractals, dancing around her before completely disappearing.

"Right." The events from before tugged at the back of her mind as they kept moving towards their goal again. "You don't think that they'll make me be on a team with him, do you? They keep telling us that there are absolutely no exceptions to that rule, but I'm afraid that he might try something like that again." Lykos turned to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, looking deep into her eyes.

"I will not let that happen. Understand?" She nodded slowly. She understood completely. He released her and led her once again, satisfied with her answer and tracking towards their objective of finding the relics and bringing one back. She shivered as she looked out around her, curious about where the other students were at, and who the other two were that would be rounding out their team.

"What did you do to him anyway?" Bái asked. "If you don't mind me asking. I can be quiet if you'd like." He didn't reply for a moment and she assumed that he meant for her to be quiet but without warning he stopped, holding out his hand and pulling her to the ground, throwing himself on top of her. She landed on her chest, arms trapped beneath her as he pinned her there. His body heat on top of her was more than enough and she flushed, her heart beating at an abnormal rate at the thought of having him on top of her. "Is that a…"

"Shhhh. Wait a minute." He told her quietly. She could hear the breathing of a Grimm, able to smell its breath as the pressure of its nose against Lykos' back pushed them closer together, compressing them slightly. She tried not to move, but the idea of the monster ripping them limb from limb filled her mind and she squirmed. "Stay calm!" It was a command and she became rigid. It had been a long time since anyone had talked to her like that, but it was the first time that anyone meant it for her well-being. She steadied her breathing and the beast snorted, moving along and leaving them be. He leapt up and she gasped, rolling onto her back and sprawling out.

"That was way too close," she told him as he helped her up.

"We were fine," he told her. "And to answer your question, my semblance is the ability to make myself look like a Grimm to other Grimm and other people. I didn't use it on you, so he was the only one who saw it. It's really just a diversion and scare tactic, not the most useful, but it does the trick in a bind." She smiled and walked with him as they reached the clearing and were able to spot the old temple from where they stood. She pointed out at the meadow, directing his attention to the opposing tree line.

"Looks like we got here at the same time as some of the others," she told him.

* * *

 

 **[Bái concept art.](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nyQtEs_o8jpP1v3lPPbdHUx0j11QuPCb) ** Unsure of the original artist, edits by my girlfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Join us again next week as the excitement continues to build in Chapter 11 - Initiation (Part 2)!


	15. Initiation (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliana/Ilia and Cobalt/Tawney rough up some Grimm! (Yeah, that's the best I've got this week).

Eliana panicked as she flew closer to the woods and did the only thing that she could think of, which was covering her body in a force field and hoping that her aura would keep her alive through the impact. She closed her eyes, her semblance assisting her in smashing through an entire tree and coming to a stop in a small crater that she had accidentally created. Eliana laid on her back for a long moment, watching as the clouds rolled by and wondering to herself if Neela had landed nearby or not. She smiled to herself as she caught her breath, taking a minute to note that fact that her landing had gone far better than she could have imagined. Her next mission was to find Neela before someone else found her. She leapt to her feet and started heading towards where she assumed her friend was.

Eliana stopped after a couple of steps. Neela was the better tracker, what if she accidentally ran into someone else while trying to find Neela? She cringed at the thought and stood in place for a bit, admiring nature. Surely Neela would get to her soon and then they could continue towards the north. Eliana smiled, removing her guns and looking them over. They felt great to hold again, even if they were only replicas. She needed to think of a way to make it up to Neela. What could she do? What could she get Neela that she had always wanted or needed? Something moved in the foliage several yards away, snapping Eliana out of it. She peered out, guns trained as she moved slowly in the direction of the disturbance.

"Neela?" Eliana called out. She moved closed, noting that whatever was in the brush was moving regularly. She took one last step before a small rabbit leapt out and caused her to jump as it scurried away and Eliana chuckled under her breath. What was she so afraid of? She had fought Grimm before, no big deal… Except for the fact that nine times out of ten Neela was there to give her guidance and take them down with her. She just needed to remember what her father would tell her. Her courage was stronger than her fear, as long as she remembered why she was fighting. Eliana was fighting to keep her mother and Neela safe, that's what she fought for.

She inhaled deeply and slowly moved north, assuming that Neela had probably decided to do the same. If Neela had landed nearby she would have used her semblance by now and would have come and gotten her.  _Just head north, you have to run into her eventually… But what if someone else runs into her first…_  Eliana had taken into account the fact that someone might find her first, but what if she found Neela and Neela already had a partner? At this point, any hope of teaming up with Neela was now out of her hands and was up to destiny to decide. She quickly moved towards the temple, hoping to find a partner soon.

Eliana grew anxious again before long and realized that she had a short list of people that she didn't want to end up running into, only this time figuratively. The tall guy with the green hair, the shirtless guy with the Grimm pelt, or Cobalt. She shook her head. Cobalt wouldn't be that bad, he seemed the most normal out of all of the people she had unofficially met. Plus he was quite the looker and she felt like he would be the perfect match for Neela. It was a given that whoever Neela decided that she was going to date, first had to be approved by Eliana, She would decide whether or not they were worth Neela's time. She was halted once again as she reached a King Taijitu.

"That… that's a snake. That is a big snake…" Eliana said as she contemplated sneaking around it. She began to slowly creep back into the woods when the black half slithered towards her and stuck its tongue out to sniff the air as she hid behind a larger tree. She muttered to herself as the tongue slid past her, rattling through the air and smelling passionately, pleased with the aroma it had found. Eliana removed her guns from their holsters, flicking her thumb over the dial and selecting gravity Dust as her first choice. She smiled remembering Neela's happiness. No more changing magazines constantly, now she was back in it, playing for keeps.

The black half suddenly slid past the tree, turning to face her and hissing as it prepared to strike. Eliana fired several shots, driving the head backward and buying her some time to run as she assessed the situation. She threw up a force field at the last second as the white half came barreling in without as much warning, wanting to finish her off quickly instead of toying with her.

"Two heads got it," Eliana noted. She ran past them, quickly adjusting her guns and freezing their middle to the ground as she leapt over its body. Her next choice was fire Dust and as much as the shots seemed to aggravate it, it did nothing more than that in the long run and forced her to take a moment to think things over. Someone ran in past her and leapt into the air, coming down and slicing at the snake, also having very little effect and regrouping on Eliana.

"Well?" Ilia asked. "There has to be something that we can do to take this thing out." Eliana shrugged.

"Can you keep the white half distracted?" Eliana asked. Ilia nodded and took off running as Eliana ran for the other end. She had an idea, but it was more of a long shot and if it didn't work there was a good chance that she might die, but she had faith in her plan. The snake reared back, watching her for a moment before coming in for the strike. As it came down to eat her, Eliana opened a force field in its mouth, forcing it to stay open. She quickly flipped her wrists up, extending the shock batons on the end of her gun and jammed them into the snake's gums, giving it everything she had. The lightning that flew past her lit up the beast's mouth, allowing her to see for a split second before the monster began thrashing, throwing her out. She landed on her feet and slid back, watching it writhe in pain as she looked for Ilia. Ilia was letting the snake strike, moving at the last moment, and giving it all she had with her blades. "Those guns you have there have got to be more powerful than mine, right?"

"Probably," Ilia called out. "What's your point?" Ilia fired off a round, aggravating the King Taijitu. It slithered around the two of them, preparing to constrict them. "You have a plan?"

"Taking that thing down used all of my lightning Dust. I can't use my tasing rods again until we get back to the school unless you've got more. Here's the plan, I'll hold its mouth open. You unload a clip into its throat." Ilia turned her attention back to the snake.

"It could work," Ilia admitted. As the snake snapped in towards them, Eliana opened a force field, straining against the beast to keep it open. Ilia slammed the gravity clips in and opened fire, her rounds piercing straight through the Grimm, and exiting through its scales. It flopped to the ground dead, and Eliana gave a sigh of relief. Ilia smirked as she looked it over. "Is that the first time you've fought something like that?" Eliana nodded.

"Something that big," Eliana replied. Ilia chuckled.

"Oh we've got Grimm that are way bigger than that in the desert back home," Ilia told her. Eliana gave her a look of disbelief and brushed herself off, looking Ilia over. She seemed normal enough and her weapons looked really cool, not to mention her tattoos.

"Those are neat! Do the tattoos represent anything?" Eliana asked. Ilia rubbed the back of her head and gestured forward.

"Maybe another time. We should get going and get one of the relics," Ilia replied. She extended her hand out to Eliana and she shook it. "Ilia Cherny, pleased to meet you."

"Eliana Latherus." They offered each other a smile and commenced with their journey. "So, what brings you to Beacon? I mean, school obviously, but is there someone specific that you're fighting for?" Ilia became distant for a moment as she used her blades to slice through some taller grass in front of her. She looked back at Eliana and nodded.

"Yeah, you could say that," Ilia told her. Eliana wanted to ask her what exactly she meant by that, but she knew better than to pry and decided that they could continue on in silence for a while.

* * *

Ilia had to admit that when she had come across her future teammate and had discovered that the girl was trying to take on a King Taijitu by herself, she was utterly impressed. Taking on a Grimm of that size took guts and precision. After observing Eliana for what must have been a minute or so it became clear to Ilia that she should assist her, as the girl clearly had never seen one of these before, the second head had almost dealt a blow that would have cut her aura level in half. Ilia had never been given direction before in a battle, but she was compliant, deciding to let the girl work it out on her own, which in the long run would be better for both of them. She would be able to gauge if her new teammate could think on the fly and it also tested her own ability to take instruction. It worked well.

The girl was scrawnier than most of the other students that she had come across thus far, but she did have a nice rack and an ass to match. She was built, she just wasn't  _as built_  as everyone else. There wasn't much else special about her, however. Ilia had noted during their fight with the snake that Eliana was more than proficient with her semblance, which she gathered was some sort of force field generation or telekinesis, and she was also highly trained with her weaponry. In a matter of speaking, yes, she did fight for someone. If anything, she fought for herself, but she didn't believe that to be what Eliana was getting at. Ilia held up a hand, ceasing their motion and crouching as she shifted forward.

"What is it?" Eliana asked as she attempted to peer past Ilia.

"Pack of Beowolves, 6 of them," Ilia informed her. Ilia let the grass settle and turned back to Eliana. "Plan of attack?" Eliana shrugged and smiled.

"I'm open to suggestions," Eliana told her. Ilia smiled and pat her hard on the shoulder.

"I like you." Eliana beamed and Ilia turned back towards the Grimm to calculate her attack. She looked back at Eliana who waited for a response and gave her a devilish grin. "I have an idea, but I may need to borrow your body." Eliana offered her a blank stare, blinking twice and raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, what?" Eliana asked.

"Trust me," Ilia reassured her. She held out her hand and waited for Eliana to take it. Eliana was still unsure but took it anyway and Ilia instantly jumped into her body, knowing that she would have to move fast. "Here goes nothing!" She built up a force field and held it tight against her body before launching out of Eliana and releasing the energy. She flew forward, slamming through the two Beowolves in the middle, her blades slicing right through, giving her the kill in one hit. "Ice!" Eliana quickly spun the dial, freezing the next two closest to Ilia in place as she readjusted her guns for fire Dust and blasted the last two away, running past Ilia to take them down. Ilia unloaded a clip of gravity into the one to her left, blowing most of the Grimm away before turning to the other as it was close to breaking free. She fired at a tree behind the beast with gravity, causing it to stumble forward. As it did she planted the right gun's barrel in its chin, extending the blade, and skewering its skull. She blew its head off just to be sure.

Eliana finished off her targets with an earth Dust bullet, the Dust exploding as the bullet entered their skulls, turning their heads to stone and shattering them as it exited the other side. Eliana blew off the ends of her revolvers and holstered them once again. Ilia shuddered slightly and giggled as she wrapped her arm around Eliana and rubbed the top of her head.

"That was awesome! You'll have to teach me a thing or two when we start training next week!" Ilia let her go and jogged ahead. Eliana fixed her hair and shook her head slightly.

"Shouldn't we worry about finishing up here first?!" Eliana called out. Ilia had never imagined that it would be like this. She had always been alone, and truth be told, she would always be a loner deep down, but this working with someone opened up a whole world of possibilities that she had never known before. She was determined to become great friends with her entire group, and then she'd have her own security detail of sorts. It was a brilliant plan and couldn't go… Eliana wrapped her arm around Ilia's shoulder as she walked beside her. Ilia smiled sheepishly and slipped Eliana's arm off of her. Maybe she wasn't ready to go full blown 'friend mode' with these people, she enjoyed her personal space too much.

"You could almost see the entire forest from the cliff, there's no way that it's much further," Ilia told Eliana as she finally noted there was a clearing up ahead. As they reached the edge, Ilia stopped her again, turning around and scanning the area they had just come from.

"What is it?" Eliana asked. Ilia brushed past her and spotted the beast as it roared and beat its chest.

"A Beringel!"

* * *

Cobalt's boots adjusted as his feet met the ground, the nanites redistributing the force of the fall as he landed, preventing too much stress on his body and keeping him from breaking anything. Already he knew that two others had landed close to his location and he was almost one hundred percent certain that Neela was one of them. Quickly his scope processed all of the technical information around him as his mind was lost to a sensory overload. A stream flowed past where he had landed and the sound of the babbling water filled his mind. There was a beauty to it, but that beauty was going to get him killed and his scanner didn't care about aesthetics. It gave him the facts and kept him on task.

The filter buzzed in his ear and he took notice, it informed him that there were several Grimm that were closing in on his location and that less than 100 yards to his west he would be able to find Neela. He smirked as he reached into his right pocket, pulling out a small electronic device that was black with a single button on the end. A red light glowing slowly to notify him that it still had power. It was about the size as a roll of coins and he pressed the button. The light became green and clear Dust ejected from both ends, thickening immediately and becoming two long, flat, sharp blades that were connected in the middle by the device.

He twisted the device so that it was vertical and it split into two, giving him dual Dust blades to fight with. He swung them lightly, getting a feel for them as the Grimm grew closer and his scope buzzed again to remind him. He sneered and had it recalculate Neela's distance. No one was close to her, he would have time to take the creatures down and still be the first to reach her. The other student that his scanner had picked up on had moved further away and he let out a sigh of relief. Things were going a bit too well. Two Creeps rounded the corner and Cobalt smirked as the sun glinted off of his scanner and he charged hard.

The one that stood in the middle sprinted towards him and his armor adjusted, locking up and powering through its bone armor as he smashed his fist through its skull. He quickly sliced it four times, alternating his blades and watched as it fell to the ground, disappearing, the smoke temporarily masking the other as it moved in quickly. He chuckled, his filter scanning through the obstruction, giving him the upper hand. He leapt into the air over the stampeding beast, hand-springing off of its head and landing on its back. He drove both blades deep into it and it bucked him off into the air, his tech quickly working to calculate force and ensure a safe landing. He chuckled, it was too easy.

The device blared in his ear, throwing a flashing warning notice in his field of view. He spun towards the threat but it was too late and he was plowed into by another Grimm. Cobalt slid across the ground, planting his feet and allowing his armor to bring him to an immediate stop. He glanced up. The new beast was a Creep that was at least double the size of the others. The scanner calculated feverishly as Cobalt strafed out of the way, the creature moving at an absurd speed for its size and tearing through the forest. Numbers flashed in front of Cobalt, as well as information and known weaknesses.

"An Abingdon Creep, huh?" Cobalt said to himself. The standard Creep had found him again and he slammed his swords back together, twisting the handle and reconnecting them, slicing through the smaller Grimm as he retreated from the Abingdon once again. He rolled out of the way, watching it slide into the forest, tearing down a mass of trees as it tried to stop and chase after him again. More information filled his sight and he grunted in displeasure. "Didn't think I'd be using that so soon. How many uses will I have left after this one?"

* _THREE*_

Cobalt shook his head but realized that if he intended on getting to Neela without this thing trampling him, he had no other choice if he was going to take it down alone. He jerked back on the handle of the sword and the device glowed a bright white, grinding and making a high pitched shriek as the light grew brighter and brighter, The Abingdon screeched and stamped its feet as it prepared for another attack. Cobalt grunted and gritted his teeth as his arm shook, gripping the sword as tightly as he could.

"Almost… There…" He seethed. His entire right hand was now consumed by the light, which was beginning to interfere with his optics, causing static and disabling his tracking system. Luckily it was maintaining its ability to project his trajectory, and he pointed the sword at the beast as it began moving towards him. He felt his armor lock up, preventing his arm from shaking as the scope sounded in his head once again. It was ready. "AHHHHHHH!" A laser blasted from the sword, 2 feet in diameter, and sliced the beast in half as he pulled it up from its belly through its head.

It collapsed into two separate pieces as it approached him, flopping onto the ground, and evaporating into a giant cloud of black smoke, leaving Cobalt in the middle of the chaos, looking at the sword in his hand before receiving the notification that his optic systems were functioning completely again. There had to be some sort of way to fix that. He deactivated the blades, they became Dust powder again which the device sucked back in. He placed it back into his pocket and took off towards the last location he had known for Neela.

Neela had several things going for her that fueled Cobalt's decision to try and find her before the others did. She had a reputation that no one was able to deny, an instant popularity that she might not have asked for, but that everyone was well aware of. She had won more archery contests in Vale than anyone else her age had before, and she had been featured at least once in a magazine that looked at upcoming Huntsmen and Huntresses. The article detailed that she was possibly one of the most tactical thinkers since Coco Adel, and that wasn't just something that they said about anyone. Not to mention that her parents had both been members of Team RWBY. She'd be an asset to have on the field for sure.

His optic scanner pulsed, giving him a clear visual of how far out she was from him and informing him that someone else was closing in on Neela. He sprinted harder, his armor complying and giving him everything it had, he had to get their first. He had meant to ask her during the lock-in, but he wanted to take a better look at the device that was on her arm and perhaps upgrade it for her. That was sure to solidify a spot on her team and perhaps a chance to talk to her friend again. Eliana was it? There was something about her that made him feel comfortable, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. However, knowing Neela's track record, it made the idea of dating either of them quite intimidating. Breaking either of their hearts was sure to land anyone in a world of pain.

* _VISUALONTARGET_ *

Cobalt came to a stop, his body bounding into a tree as his total focus had been placed on spotting Neela and had been lost on all of his surroundings. A warning flashed across his sight which he mentally dismissed quickly. Now was his chance, the moment that he'd been waiting for since he had first heard of her talent. His team was sure to be the top team to graduate from Beacon, perhaps with the best marks of all time. He stepped past the tree line and cupped his mouth to call out to Neela but someone tackled him and covered his mouth. He grunted as they struggled to hold him down, keeping them both hidden in the bushes.

"That was close," the assailant told him. His eyes grew slightly as his scanner informed him once again of who was in the immediate area. He knew the voice to well. It was that girl, that 'Maniac', that had challenged Neela back in the courtyard. His armor assisted him in removing her hand from his mouth.

"What was close?!" He demanded. She struggled against him armor again and clasped his mouth shut, forcing him to submit. He lay on the ground as she peeked out again, watching Neela track towards something.  _This is it… After all of the preparations that went into forming the ultimate team. I ended up with the Maniac of Mystral instead of the Huntress of Vale._  He sighed and waited for her to remove herself, though it seemed as if she was in no hurry to do so.

"I need your help!" She told him in a whisper. If nothing else he found her insanity slightly amusing and he decided to take the bait.

"With what?" Cobalt asked. Tawney leapt up off of him and pulled him to his feet. She smiled and he found it slightly unnerving as she started to drag him in the direction of the relics.

"We've got to get to the relics before Neela! Come on!" Tawney told him. He managed to free himself from her grip and he stood there for a moment with his arms folded. "What's wrong? We're wasting time! Come on!" Cobalt rubbed his brow and took a deep breath in.

"You couldn't have grabbed anyone else!?" He asked her. She shrugged.

"I saw you first and I knew if you teamed up with Neela, I'd have no chance of beating her, now come on!" She demanded again. His eye twitched slightly as his mind processed what she had just told him. The only reason that she grabbed him was so that she'd have a better chance at beating Neela?! At what?! Didn't she understand why they were out in this forest?! His scope warned him of his own erratic breathing pattern and elevated heart rate.  _I'm well aware!_  She waved her hand in front of him.

"You okay?" She asked. He seethed and offered her a fake smile, forcing himself to nod.

"I'm fine. Never better, really." She smiled and began heading north again.

"Great! Let's go get us a relic Colby!" She exclaimed. He cringed.

"It's…"

* _WARNING*_

Cobalt watched as his scanner transposed the image of two Beowolves and an Alpha just past the edge of a large rock formation to Tawney's right.

"Tawney, get down!" He shouted as he ran towards her. He removed his device, quickly forming his blades and keeping them joined together. She glanced back to see why he was shouting at her for when she also heard the growls and roars of the Grimm as they made themselves visible. She cracked a smile and bounced on her feet.

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" She called out. She rushed in, standing in the middle of the two smaller ones and smashing both of the Beowolves in the knees, slamming her tonfas against the top of their heads as they bent forward from the pain. She pulled them back quickly, lining her weapons up with the sides of their skulls and blasting through both of them, killing them instantly. The Alpha swatted her away and Cobalt leapt into the air. He hated using it now, but he found himself doing it before he could talk himself out of it. A clone formed beneath him and its armor adjusted, grabbing his feet and throwing him, allowing him to catch Tawney. His right arm slammed against the small drop off and he set her down, much to her disbelief. "How did you do that?"

"I can explain later! Let's just worry about the Alpha!" He exclaimed. She nodded towards him in agreement. The clone joined them, scanning the beast over. "What's it look like?"

"Your blades would take too long and her normal firepower won't be enough," the clone explained.  _Dammit. Looks like I'll have to use my laser again…_

"Do you and the clone share pain?" She asked the clone. Cobalt looked past her at him.

"No, I don't feel his pain, why?" Cobalt explained. She smirked.

"I just need a few more good hits," she told the clone. She sucker punched the real Cobalt, batting him around with her tonfas before plowing him into the rock with her final smash. Her eyes lit up gold, burning with a kind of fire. Her black tonfas became the same color, the golden fire consuming them as well as she slammed them together. She ran towards the clone who cringed in confusion, leaping onto his shoulders and blasting him apart under her, throwing herself into the air. Cobalt watched in horror and amazement as she flew through the air, batting the Alpha's head towards the ground, placing her barrel against its head, and firing it clean off. His mouth fell open as she hit the ground, the Grimm disappearing behind her.

"What… What was that?!" He asked. She smiled and helped him up.

"I can explain later. Let's just worry about the relic," she told him winking. He smirked. Maybe she wasn't as bad as he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week the initiation continues with Neela and Titus in - Initiation (Part 3)!
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	16. Initiation (Part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The teams meet up, and it seems as though Cobalt and his crew are about to have one hell of a time...

Neela fired her grapple hook, nailing her mark and swinging gently to the ground, releasing it as she was comfortable with her balance. The Emerald Forest. She crouched against the nearest tree that she could find, listening for a long moment and smelling the air for any trace that she could of Eliana. She couldn't waste much time trying to find her, she promised herself that she wouldn't allow Eliana to be a distraction today. She activated her semblance, noting that there were a few Ursai that were nearby, but they weren't nearly close enough for her to have to worry about them. She was amazed at how open the forest was, she had expected it to be far denser than it was in order to make it more difficult for them to find their friends, but Neela guessed at the fact that they were all launched off of the cliff at different speeds.

This is where it had all gone down, and from the stories that she had heard growing up, it had all gone down in quite an absurd manner. Weiss was trying to escape Ruby but had no choice but to go back for her. Jaune was always hitting on Weiss despite Pyrrha's 'advances'. Yang had mentioned something to her about Nora riding an Ursa, but the notion of a girl riding a Grimm like that just seemed like nonsense. Then they all had to fight a Death Stalker and a Nevermore. The story was close to unbelievable, but all eight of them had told her the same story. Neela shook her head, she was getting too far off track in her daydreaming.

Neela found herself discouraged, it became evident to her that she wasn't going to be able to find Eliana without spending too much time looking for her, and so she decided to head north, concentrating solely on obtaining a relic and scoring the best she could on the graded portion of the initiation. They had been vague in informing the students that this event would also be part of their first-semester grade, but Neela assumed that it was the same as any other contest that she had taken part in. They would score them on technique, innovation, marksmanship, and cooperation, or at least she assumed. She unsheathed her sword and pivoted forward, ready to attack anything that came her way.

After a short time, Neela became surprised that another student hadn't found her yet and her mind continued to wander, despite her determination to perform better than anyone else in the forest. It drifted to her memories of sitting with Eliana at the top of the cliff and running through the forest, nothing but the moon and stars to light their path as they enjoyed the springtime of their youth and ran to the river. The mask screamed back into Neela's mind and she stumbled momentarily, clearing her mind. She needed to stay here. Her mind needed to focus on what was happening now. She sheathed her sword, deciding that she might attract more Grimm running, but it would increase her mobility and chances of being spotted by one of her classmates.

She sensed someone coming near and as she activated her semblance again, she heard someone dive into the bushes. She noted Tawney and shook her head, now picking up on a few Beowolves that were coming close, but were still out of her immediate range, Tawney would be able to deal with them without any problems. Were the others ignoring Neela? Did she intimidate them to the point that they didn't want to be on her team? She knew that her name preceded her, but she didn't want it to be like this. She still needed a teammate.

"Still haven't found anyone yet, have you?" a voice asked her. She turned slowly and spotted the source, a tall male that wore Atlas Military attire and stood several inches over her. She noted the hair and immediately knew that he was the one that Eliana had run into when she was leaving the table yesterday. "If you have I'll just continue on my way." She couldn't exactly lie about it, the rules were rules and she was going to have to get used to this guy. He carried himself like a soldier, and Neela felt as though he was one of the better students that she could have ended up paired with.

"No, I'm alone yet," she told him. She extended her hand and he looked at it. She tilted her head slightly, smiling up at him. "I'm Neela Xiao Long." His eyes changed slightly and he smirked.

"Neela eh? Your friend ran into me back at the admissions booth," he told her. Neela chuckled and flushed in embarrassment for Eliana.

"Yeah. She felt really bad about that," Neela explained. He shook her hand.

"Lieutenant General Titus Prasinos of the Atlesian Army. Youngest soldier ever chosen for the rank," he told her with an air. His chest was puffed out and he looked towards the canopy as he stood at attention saluting her. She looked him over and raised an eyebrow as she reached up and pulled the hand he was saluting with down.

"Uh huh. Yeah. If you're one of those big shots in the Atlesian Army, why are you training at Beacon and not back at home," she inquired. He gritted his teeth and looked away from her, staring hard at a few tree roots that covered the ground.

"I wonder that as well," he muttered. He looked back at her and scoffed. "It's not important. Come with me." He told her. He began to walk away and she watched as he left, tapping her foot.  _Come with me? Who does this guy think he is?_ He stopped and turned back to her, watching her for a long moment. "Follow me, Ms. Xiao Long. I will escort you to the objective." She snorted and covered her mouth, holding it back until it came out all at once. She laughed hard, kneeling on the ground to balance herself and laughing even harder. Titus was confused. "What's so funny?"

"All of this! Listen, pal…. Titus, right?" She asked. He nodded. "You have got to drop this military act. I'm not your target. I'm not the 'package', or whatever you would refer to me as in your military lingo. Think of me as your equal. We're here to help each other get through the Grimm, and get one of the relics at the end of the forest. Sound good?" She walked past him and headed north, leaving him in a state of confusion and anger for a moment as he followed her.  _Equal? Equal?! What could she possibly be capable of that would make her even remotely close to my equal?!_  Titus refused to believe it.

She didn't have the experience in life and death situations that he had. She didn't have a childhood that was filled with anger and fear like he did. She couldn't have known how hard he fought to get to where he was, and yet, she wanted to suggest that she was equal to him?! He needed to be the one leading them, it was the only way that Glynda was going to chose him to lead the group. She held a hand up stopping him, but he pushed past and continued into a small glade. She reached out and grabbed his cape but he pulled away and continued into the meadow.

"Titus!" She yelled. He looked around him at the bright pink flowers and looked back towards where Neela had been standing, but she was now nowhere to be found. Had she been attacked by a Grimm and had been calling him for help? He moved back towards where she was, but a slow, mind-numbing perplexity crawled into his senses.

"Neela?" He called out. He leaned down, picking one of the flowers at his feet and watching as the rest died around him, the ground becoming a stone pathway that spread in every direction, destroying the trees and leaving him in the middle of a vast city that was made completely of stone, and was mostly destroyed. He could feel his heart racing as he grasped for his blades, but they were not at his sides. Without warning a terrible storm set in and Titus found himself drenched as he looked down at his hands and his clothes. Where was his uniform?

No, he knew where this was, he knew what this was! Titus trembled as the wind blew even harder, throwing wooden debris past him, he needed to make it to Bakers Road, but he wasn't sure that he could! Grimm tore past him, not stopping to acknowledge him as he struggled with the wind, a street market stand slamming into him and throwing him to the ground. It hurt more than he remembered and he shakily found his feet. A gunshot rang out, slamming into his shoulder and throwing him onto his back again.

"Time's almost up Titus! You really are worthless, aren't you?! How will you live with yourself if they die?!" A menacing voice called out. He shook his head as he found his hands and knees before another hunk of debris hammered into him, driving him onto his chest. This wasn't real! It couldn't be! Titus reached for his radio, but it was shot out of his hand and the sniper cackled as he watched it land in a pothole filled with water several feet away.

"You're not real! You can't be real! They locked you up!" Titus called out. The shooter laughed again as Titus could hear him drawing nearer, his boots splashing against the wet bricks with every step he came closer. The man leaned down and looked Titus in the eyes, his pink eyes menacing and terrifying, piercing his soul. The crazed smile left his face and he got on his hands and knees beside Titus.

"If you can't do this alone Titus, you'll never be strong enough!" The man screamed. He stood back up and pointed the barrel of the gun towards Bakers Road. "I think I can see them from here!"

"You're not real!" Titus exclaimed. The sniper laughed again and turned quickly, kicking Titus in the chest. Titus grunted, hitting the ground and coughing up blood. Titus felt the cold steel of the muzzle press against the back of his head.

"Then why are you so afraid and in so… much… pain…"

* * *

The shot rang out and Titus sat up immediately from lying on his back, Neela sitting on his chest and trying to hold him down as he reached for his swords.

"What was that!? Where am I?! What happened?!" Titus demanded. He shoved her off and rolled over, propping himself up on his hands and knees. His chest heaved as he looked around him to make sure that the nightmare was over with.

"Those pink flowers that you so carelessly decided to take a stroll through, are known as Grimm's Bane. Kind of like a subspecies of Grimm in a way, although no one knows if it's completely true. Just the smell of them can cause someone as big as you to have hallucinations of their worst fear, hence naming them after Grimm. They are indigenous to the Kingdom of Vale, and not something that you would have read about in that packet. You're just damn lucky that I've forced myself to build up an immunity. I had a run in with a meadow full of these back on the island of Patch. They can be pretty scary," she told him. The words rang in his head.  _If you can't do this alone Titus, you'll never be strong enough!_ But Glynda had told him differently! The two ideologies clashed in his head as he found his feet with some assistance from Neela.

"Thank you," he told her. She smiled, looking at him differently now than she had before. "What?" She chuckled.

"Your welcome." A smile tugged at the corners of his lips and he brushed her off.

"Come on. We still have to go get a relic and it took me a bit to get you to come…" Neela began before she was cut off by a shout that filled the entire forest.

"A Beringel!" Came a voice that was further north than they had reached. Titus and Neela sprinted the rest of the way, stopping at the edge of the clearing as Neela spotted Ilia and Eliana on the far side being chased out by the beast. A panic filled Neela. That was larger than a regular Beringel.

"Elli!" Neela exclaimed. Titus squinted and shook his head in disbelief.  _Why is Ilia still here, didn't Headmistress Goodwitch hear a single thing that I told her yesterday?_  Titus looked at Neela before deciding to charge out after them. Neela reached out to him before removing her sword and flipping it out into its bow form. What was wrong with that guy? Why did he feel like he could take every problem on his own? "What are you doing?!" He grinned as ran towards the Grimm.

"Just watch!" He called back. She loaded an arrow, hoping to freeze it to the ground, but without fail, Titus was following right along with her line of sight and she withdrew, groaning as she rolled her head. There was nothing organized about this ordeal and this was a teambuilding mission that was going horribly wrong. She didn't necessarily want to take charge, she just wanted some order. What was she going to do? Lykos came sprinting out of the woods close to where they had seen Ilia and Eliana appear from, and directly towards the temple with a smaller girl behind him. Neela watched as they made it, completely unnoticed by the Beringel and retrieved one of the relics. She sighed, why couldn't that have been her and Eliana.

Cobalt and Tawney flew past her next from out of the forest, Tawney practically dragging Cobalt as he struggled to keep up with her.

"I knew we could do it!" Tawney gasped as she doubled over, trying to catch her breath. Cobalt joined her as he propped himself against a pedestal and grabbed the relic off.

"I still don't understand… why we had to run all the way here," Cobalt explained. He held the Black Rook out towards her. "Look good?" She brushed him off as she stood and held her side.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Bái pointed out at the Beringel as Lykos looked over the Black Rook that he had selected.

"Should we help them out?" Bái asked him. Lykos shook his head.

"We've done what was asked. They'll be fine," Lykos told her. As he began to leave the temple, the floor shook and the four of them stumbled, maintaining their balance.

"What was that?" asked Tawney.

"I'd say a trap, but my sensor is going into overdrive. Says that there's a Grimm nearby," Cobalt explained. Lykos gave him an expressionless look and pointed.

"Yeah, the Beringel," Lykos replied. Cobalt swallowed hard.

"Something bigger," he replied. The group gasped and Lykos shook his head.

"Absurd! It's crazy enough there would be a Beringel out here, what would be bigger!?" Lykos asked. Slowly the temple rose up from out of the ground, revealing that it was now acting as a body for a Geist. It had tree arms, and legs that were made up of rocks and it pulled itself from the earth, forcing the students to leap off of it with their relics. Cobalt glanced across at Neela and the other three before turning back and grabbing two of the relics. He slid into one of the pedestals, grunting as he shoved himself off and ran towards the ledge.

"Cobalt!" Tawney yelled from the ground. She blasted back the Geist's arm as it swung down. It stumbled back and Cobalt grunted, his armor falling behind in its calculations for a moment as he ran up the incline. The beast peered down at the three below it and Cobalt's running surface changed once again.

"I'm coming!" He replied as he slid off. His armor adjusted and he landed unscathed. Cobalt glanced back up at the Grimm behind him as it stomped and swept its arm towards them, knocking Tawney off of her feet as she tried firing at it again, but it resisted. Cobalt hit the ground beside Lykos who had leapt on top of Bái once again. "What is this thing?!"

"We can worry about that later!" Lykos exclaimed as he helped Bái to her feet and took off for the tree line. Cobalt watched as the Geist wound up, swinging down at Tawney who was trying to stand. He sprinted to her, throwing his arm into the air, the gears locking up as he stopped the Grimm. He grunted as she looked up at him.

"Cobalt?!" She exclaimed. He smirked, still straining against the tree.

"Go!" He shouted. She found her feet and ran after Lykos, looking back at Cobalt for a moment and realizing that he was going to be crushed. An arrow slammed into the top of its arm and froze the limb to its body, effectively stopping it. Cobalt rolled out and ran after the others, nodding to Neela in acknowledgment. The Geist slowly surveyed its surroundings as it became adjusted to its new host and peered around for the Huntsmen that had been on top of it. "Hey Neela, I don't suppose that you want to try and take that thing on, do you?" Neela's eyes were wide as she watched it swing wildly at the trees immediately surrounding it, ripping them from the ground and throwing them about. The ice shattered on its arm and it seemed pleased, looking for its prey once again. She had only heard about this Grimm once, and it had been from her Aunt Ruby.

"Only if you take on the Prime Beringel," she replied with confidence as she began to walk towards their group. Cobalt smirked. He knew that she couldn't resist the idea of taking down something so massive, but he also knew that she was more than capable of doing it. She stood a far better chance of taking it down than the rest of them. Now it was a matter of getting the others on board. He tossed her one of the Golden Knights and pocketed the other, he'd give it to Ilia or Eliana when they had a moment.

"Deal," he replied. Tawney grabbed him and shook him by the shoulders. Her eyes were intense as she stared deep into his own, pleading to let her fight the Geist.  _I am not going to let Xiao Long outdo me!_  Her sense of competition knew no bounds, did it?

"No way am I going to let her take that Grimm down!" Tawney yelled at him. "I deserve to kill that thing! We can handle it!" Cobalt shoved her off of him.

"I've agreed to let Neela take it on. We've got our own problem to worry about. If you're really so hell-bent on killing it, I'll you can help her," Cobalt told her gesturing towards Neela. He knew he had Tawney where he wanted her, if there was anything that would completely destroy her pride, it would be having to work under Neela's command. Tawney's eye twitched slightly and she slammed her tonfas together.

"Right, the Beringel it is," Tawney answered. Neela whistled for Titus who completely ignored her as the Beringel batted him away and continued to chase after Ilia and Eliana. Eliana dove under another sweep from the beast and grabbed Ilia's arm, dragging her back towards Neela. The Geist spotted them crossing the clearing, and Eliana blocked its arm quickly with a force field which threw them both forward and they stumbled for a couple of steps. Ilia jumped into Eliana's body and rode the rest of the way there, jumping out as they approached Neela.

"What's the plan?" Eliana asked. Cobalt and Lykos watched as Titus slammed his swords against the Beringel with little effect, angering it for a moment. His eyes grew wide as he realized the need to hit it harder and the Grimm batted him away towards the Geist. Neela shook her head. Why was he so hell-bent on getting his ass kicked?

"You two with me!" Neela shouted as she ran towards the Geist with Ilia and Eliana close behind her. Titus groaned as he peered up at the Geist which prepared to crush him. This was it. It was like he had been told all along. He couldn't do it alone, and it only further proved his weakness. He wasn't worthy of his title in the Atlesian Military. He was hardly worthy of attending Beacon with these common fighters. He was useless. "Titus! Come on!" Glynda's words found him again.

"Lykos, can you keep that thing off of Neela's team while my scanner finishes calculating?" Cobalt asked. Lykos nodded and he ran out towards the Beringel, throwing several shurikens that glanced off without consequence. Bái stifled a cry as she stayed back with the other two. She wanted to go help Lykos, but it was so dangerous. The Beringel acknowledged Lykos with a scream and it beat on its chest, meeting eyes with the Huntsman and falling prey to his semblance. Lykos made another Beringel appear to the Grimm and as he suspected, the real monster was determined to display its dominance by fighting the fake. "Tawney, beat the hell out of it while it's occupied and build up your semblance."

"You got it!" She replied. She took off for Lykos and the Beringel and Bái glanced over at Cobalt. He seemed calm under the pressure and knew exactly how to get done what needed to be done. She wasn't sure that she could ever be like that, pressure usually got the better of her and that's when things would get dangerous. It was better if she just stood by and followed orders.

"Bái is it?" Cobalt asked as he formed his swords and kept them locked together as one. She nodded at him as he gave a subtle smirk, his scanner probably filling him in on how to go about defeating the Grimm. "That thing is gonna be pissed when it finds out that Lykos is making a decoy. You want to go cover them?" She nodded and ran out towards the action as Cobalt slowly followed behind her, his sword charging up, preparing to fire his laser. He would have two more shots after this one, and hopefully, it would be enough to take down the other Grimm that Neela's team was fighting. Just as Cobalt expected the beast targeted Lykos as his decoy semblance broke and Bái reached him with seconds to spare, instantly creating an ice wall between the two of them.

The Beringel smashed at it several times, trying to reach Lykos who had formed his whip and was falling back now. The creature stopped for a moment and acknowledged Tawney who was relentlessly beating on its legs. It batted her over the wall towards them, and as she careened through the air a wave of water swept up from out of the ground around Bái and snatched Tawney out of her flight. She landed softly on her feet, acknowledging Bái.

"Thanks," Tawney told her. Lykos strafed out past the edge of the ice barrier and wrapped up the Beringel's left hand with his whip. He strained against it and handed to Cobalt as he approached, who gave it a solid pull, causing the beast to stumble. As its fist planted against the ground, Bái used her ice to freeze it in place. The Beringel strained to free its hand as Tawney charged it. She slid in front of it, sliding through its legs and blasting it with both tonfas in the jaw. It jerked back, but it wasn't enough to kill it. It roared and used its free hand to smash the ice trap away, freeing it once again. Cobalt tossed Lykos' whip back to him.

"I don't think so!" Cobalt shouted as his laser finished charging. It fired, blasting the beast in the chest and filling the area with a bright light, consuming the team. As the laser finished, Cobalt dropped to his knees, chest heaving, and satisfied that his attack had landed, but when the smoke from the Grimm cleared, the monster roared and charged, indicating it was still alive. Cobalt found himself in disbelief as Bái threw up a short ice wall, causing the beast to trip over it. It fell towards Cobalt as Lykos sprinted in, dragging him out quickly as the Beringel flopped onto the ground. Lykos turned, whip ready as he watched the beast.

"This thing is tough," Lykos stated out loud. Cobalt's chest heaved as he found his feet and his scanner warned him that he only had two shots left with the laser. None of them had ever fought something like this, how were they supposed to defeat it? One idea crossed his mind, but he thought of it more as a last ditch effort and pushed it aside for the moment. Lykos charged in, scattering his shurikens in every direction but they simply ricochet off of the beast. He reformed his whip quickly, the Beringel smashing down quickly towards him. He used the whip to try and redirect the blow, but the Grimm was too strong and pulled back, throwing Lykos behind him.

"Lykos!" Bái shouted out. She ran out for the beast and it wound up again, preparing to crush her. As its fist came down it glanced off of an ice shield that had formed in Bái's hand. She swung around with an ice sword, slashing at it and knocking it off balance, but not causing it any pain. It roared and became even more enraged, swinging wildly now. A wave of water beneath Bái threw her into the air and she came down at the monster, but its hand clasped around her shield and threw her in the direction of Lykos. Cobalt's concentration broke as he watched Bái's body tumble across the ground. What could they do?

"Can you make a clone?" Tawney asked snapping him out of it. He watched her as she tried to form her own plan and peered through his scanner, letting it know to calculate whether or not he could do that right now, but it informed it that it would be a bad decision. He shook his head.

"No, I can't do that very often," he told her. "I could make a clone, but it would be too weak and wouldn't be of much use." She gritted her teeth as she took a few empty shots at it, drawing it away from Lykos and Bái. It worked and the Grimm turned back towards them sprinting.

"Dammit," she muttered. They dove out of the way as the Beringel charged and slammed both fists against the ground. Cobalt charged his laser again and slid back as the beast swung for both of them. Tawney landed a few good hits but needed a couple more solid ones in order to get her semblance to activate. She glanced at Cobalt. "It didn't work the first time, why would it work now!" He knew she was right, but it was better that he tried something instead of just standing by.

"It has to!" He shouted as he blasted at the beast again. It proved just as ineffective as the first time, and Cobalt watched again in shock as he looked at the sword in his hand. He had no other choice, he had to hope that his final plan was going to be enough. "Lykos! Bái! Reform on me!" Lykos came sprinting out of the far side of the forest, Bái close behind and he whipped the beast again, giving a solid pull. It acknowledged him and turned from Tawney and Cobalt, preparing to charge. It beat on its chest, letting Lykos know that it meant to kill him, but Lykos smirked at it, fully prepared for what would happen next. It ran for the two of them and Bái formed an ice wall, which it slammed through to Lykos surprise, trampling him as he shoved Bái out of the way.

"Bái!" Tawney called out. Bái landed on her chest and glanced around, trying to spot where Tawney had called her from. "Here!" This time Bái found them and scrambled over to where they were waiting. They met her halfway. She was close to tears and Tawney helped her to her feet.

"I'm sorry! I'm getting weaker because I'm being too careful! If I push myself too hard…" She explained.

"It's fine!" Cobalt told her cutting her off. Lykos body finally came to a stop and he grunted as he struggled to stand, the beast preparing to hit him again. Tawney fired off several shots that staggered the Beringel and it turned its attention away from Lykos. Lykos finally found his feet and rushed past the Grimm as he rejoined them. It roared in disapproval, moving faster towards the team. "Here's the plan…" The Beringel swung and Cobalt knocked it back with assistance from Tawney.

"Make it quick!" Lykos demanded. The scope scanned Cobalt's thoughts and warned him that it was a bad idea, but he disregarded.

"Can you use your decoy again?" Cobalt asked. Lykos nodded again, albeit a bit reluctantly this time and charged out in a wide arc to the right, away from the Grimm and activating his semblance. The Beringel glanced away as Cobalt had hoped and he turned to Bái. "Keep it in place." She nodded and threw her hands out, slowly coating its feet in ice and shaking as her eyes lit up slightly. Cobalt hadn't seen that before and wondered if this is what she was referring to. "Bái?"

"I will protect you. Go!" Bái shouted out. Tawney nodded at Cobalt and he formed a clone, stumbling slightly as he positioned himself.

"You just told me that you couldn't make a clone," she stated smugly. He grimaced.

"It'll disappear as soon as I throw you, so make it quick!" He instructed her. They both crouched, placing their hands together and throwing Tawney in the air. "Bái, give us a platform in front of it!" A pillar of ice rose from the ground and Cobalt glanced quickly at Bái whose eyes were glowing even more intensely. Tawney launched herself forward by firing behind her and she slammed her tonfas together, firing below her to maintain her height and successfully landing on her mark. Cobalt sprinted towards the action, his clone crouching at the base of the column and throwing him up to catch the ledge. The clone disappeared as Cobalt glanced down at the ground below. He slid his sword to Tawney as he pulled himself up.

"What am I doing with this?" She asked. He joined her and pulled her down as the Beringel swung over the top of them. Lykos flew in behind the Grimm, catching its arm with his whip and holding it still as he shouted out.

"Hurry up Cobalt!" He roared.

"Pull back hard on the handle and aim into its mouth," he told her. He used his armored limb to pry open the beast's mouth and hold it there as Tawney's body shook, trying to keep a hold on the sword as the laser gathered its power for one last shot. "Now!" She fired into its mouth and the laser cut through it like a blade, blasting out through its back and easily tearing it apart. The sword shattered and she tossed the handle behind her, watching as it slipped off of the platform, falling to the ground below. She placed her tonfas in its maw, giving the monster one last blow to make sure that it was over. Its body went limp and it fell to the ground, disappearing as Tawney and Cobalt leapt down from their perch. Cobalt retrieved his device and pocketed it.

"Great job everyone," Cobalt told them as he brushed himself off. Ice slowly climbed up his and Tawney's bodies and he glanced over at Bái whose eyes were giving off an even brighter blue light. She was staring at something in the sky, or so it appeared, and he found himself unable to move. Cobalt was confused and a slight panic set in as the ice was thick and now covered up to his chest. "Bái?" Lykos stopped approaching them as he realized what was going on, immediately throwing his weight towards Bái and running to her.

"Bái, snap out of it!" He demanded. He took a step too close and he was dragged away from her with a wave of water, pulling him out into the clearing again. She turned to face him, her eyes expressionless. This must be what they had been told about. "Bái, you're okay. Just wake up!" Lykos shouted it, and her eyes flickered, long enough for her to see it was him and the light went dim, dying completely. She ran to Lykos, pulling him to his feet.

"Lykos! I'm sorry! Did I hurt any of you?! I didn't mean…" Before she could finish she passed out and fell to the ground, landing on her chest. Lykos slowly picked her up and held her in his arms as he viewed the clearing around them. The ice shattered off of the others and they met up with him.

"What was that?" Tawney asked as they all looked at Bái. Her breathing was labored and slow as she slept in Lykos' arms. "She went crazy there for a moment." Lykos looked up from Bái at Tawney, a stern look on his face. She took a step back. "What?"

"We can address that later," Cobalt told her.

"Where are the others?" Lykos asked. Cobalt made a one-eighty and scanned the immediate area, but his scope gave him no indication that they were still nearby.

"Hopefully they're doing alright. I still have one of their relics," Cobalt told them. He pointed out further north. "I saw a cliff that way past an old fortress. It looked like it was probably the quickest way to exit the forest and complete our mission. It's fewer trees to go through too and I'm guessing that it's the route that Neela and her crew would have taken." Tawney grabbed his arm and pulled it, pointing. There was a path cut through the woods where the Geist has chased after them.

"We could just follow this," she offered. Cobalt smirked and chuckled.

"Touché," Cobalt replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week NITE finishes the test with a battle against the Geist in Chapter 13 - Initiation (Part 4)!
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	17. Initiation (Part 4)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team NITE will have to take on a Prime Beringel to prove themselves capable of attending Beacon, but can they do it? Plus, not everyone takes the news of who will be the team leaders well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: In the last chapter there was a mistake with the official title of the larger than usual Beringel. I didn't want it to have the same naming as the Alpha Beowulf so from here on out it shall be the Prime Beringel. Thanks, and enjoy!

Blake gripped her scroll hard as the Geist rose from the ground and it revealed itself to the students, causing an audible gasp from the other teachers that were nearby and also watching everything below unfold. Blake handed her scroll to Yang without notice, causing Yang to fumble with it for a moment. They stared at Blake as she compressed one of the launch pads and stood on it.

"Blake," Yang asked her.

"I'm going in!" Blake exclaimed, her eyes narrow as she stared straight ahead, knees bent, preparing to launch. The spring unloaded, throwing her a couple of feet forward before she was quickly caught by Glynda's semblance and placed gently on the ground beside all of them. Blake looked herself over in confusion for a moment before looking up at Glynda. Her face became red and Yang knew that Blake was going to let Glynda have it, or at least try. "What are you doing?!"

"Stopping you from interfering in the exam," Glynda told her in a matter of fact like tone. She reviewed her scroll before looking out over the forest and viewing what she could from where they were positioned.

"Glynda, there is a Geist in there. In addition to a Prime Beringel! You can't expect me to just sit here-" Blake ranted before Glynda cut her off.

"Do you think that your daughter is as good as everyone believes?" Glynda asked. They all grew silent for a moment and looked at Blake. She averted her eyes as Glynda looked back at her and her cat ears flopped slightly.

"Of course I do," Blake replied quietly. "I just… I just don't want her to get hurt." Yang approached Blake and hugged her, holding her for a long moment as Glynda gave a small smile and turned back to watch the forest. Ruby joined them and smiled.

"Don't worry Blake," Ruby told her. "I know she can do this."

"How can you be so sure?" Blake asked.

"Trust me, I know," Ruby replied with a wink.

* * *

Titus doubted himself for a long moment, and whether or not he should have been sent to Beacon in the first place. Was this how he was going to die? He had made it his goal in life to be the best that the Atlas Military had ever seen, but now he had been reduced to nothing more than a regular Huntsman, bested by the Grimm that he was trying to slay. Glynda was right, they were much stronger if they worked together as a team, but Titus wondered what kind of team needed a member that couldn't hold his own. Was he overreacting? Perhaps, but after his mind had been refreshed to the nightmare he had long ago forgotten, the idea that he couldn't do anything on his own had a hold on him, and right now it was holding him to the ground, ready to let the Geist destroy him.

"Titus! Come on!" Neela called out to him. His mind teetered towards the flashback. Lightning cracking as he lay on his face on the cold, wet ground. He watched as the Geist's rock foot raised up, and prepared to flatten him into the earth. Someone grabbed him and threw themselves on top of him. It was Ilia… The confusion snapped and he became wide-eyed as he realized that she might be intending to protect him with her body. Why would she do such a thing? All that could be accomplished from where she was positioned was that they would both be killed together! Even if she did have some plan for protecting him, why would she? It didn't make any sense.

He had tried to have her thrown out of Beacon, back to wherever she was from and out of his way. He was justified in his mind, she had tried to steal his wallet, but what did she possibly get from keeping him alive at this point? Ilia grabbed his jaw and moved in, his eyes growing even wider than they already were. What was she doing?! This was hardly the place for this kind of show of affection, and he honestly didn't feel that way about her! Perhaps she meant to snap him out of it? She kissed him hard on the lips, toying with him slightly as she lingered longer than she needed to, before taking his body and rolling out of the way of being crushed. She gripped his swords and clashed them together, the gravity Dust blasting past the Geist with no effect.

"Got him!" Ilia yelled out and ran into the woods with the Geist charging towards her. Neela and Eliana followed the Grimm and they came upon an old fort that led to one of the cliff sides. Titus began to understand what was going on and he pushed Ilia out of his body, sliding to a stop and planting his swords. The earth rolled back towards the creature, giant pikes of rock slamming up through the ground and throwing it onto its back.

"What the hell did you think you were doing back there?!" He demanded. She face-palmed and shook her head furiously in disbelief.

"Can we have this conversation after that thing is dead?!" Ilia asked. He grunted in frustration but agreed as the earth shook and it stood back up, prepared to attack once again. Neela ran by with Eliana and they made a break for the gorge. Titus and Ilia glanced at each other before nodding and following after the girls.

"What's the plan?" Ilia asked. They weaved in and out of the trees as they finally exited on the other side, approaching a large ravine of sorts.

"We push it into the gorge!" Titus shouted.

"We attack it from the other end of the fort!" Neela yelled at the same time. Ilia looked back and forth between the two of them.

"Guys!" Ilia demanded. "Can we not do this right now?! Am I the only one who realizes that we need to get our shit together?" Neela thought it over for a moment and glanced back at Titus as they approached the bridge and stopped.

"We can do both," Neela told them. Titus smirked and nodded. He was willing to compromise and he appreciated that she didn't completely disregard his suggestion. Maybe some of the students here were sensible after all.

"How?" Eliana asked. The Geist exited the forest and threw boulders at them which they dove out of the way of, Titus opting to stand his ground and smash them apart using the Dust in his swords.

"Elli, come with me. You and I can distract it from her and Titus. We'll be safe at the far end of that bridge. If it tries to follow us, it'll fall into the gorge on its own," Neela told them. They all agreed and Neela and Eliana opened fire as they moved towards their mark. The Geist seemed mostly uninterested in them until Neela fired several gravity arrows off at it, tearing apart its right arm and causing it to panic. It screeched as it swung back around, moving quickly towards the forest and choosing a new arm. Neela had its full attention now and she smiled. This is what they needed.

"What about us?" Ilia asked.

"You're going to have Titus launch you towards it! It'll probably be easier if you use your semblance!" Neela called out. She smirked as she turned back to him and he raised his hands backpedaling.

"Really?" Titus asked, his face turning red.

"You heard her…" Ilia replied. He grabbed her by the shoulders and she glanced at his hand. "That'll work too." She jumped into his body and held the swords against each other, charging up the gravity Dust and preparing to jump out. Neela glanced at Eliana who continued to fire at the beast as it drew nearer to the gap. She smirked as she loaded a lightning arrow and took a deep breath. She calmed her nerves and watched as everything around her came into focus. She could hear her pulse, beating in her ear. Eliana's guns, each blast distinct and precise, the sound of the bullets chambering filling her mind. She activated her semblance.

As a young child, Neela was often filled with great wonder and awe at the stories that her Aunt Ruby would tell her whenever she came to visit. They were amazing adventures, tales of exotic Grimm, killers, and thieves, and the battles against Salem and Cinder. Neela loved it and stored every last word, down to the syllable, in her memory, hoping that one day she would tell her children of Ruby's adventures, and her own. One of her favorite stories, however, was the story of RNJR versus a Geist, a Grimm that Ruby had described to her as a ghost that could possess objects of the earth. Here it was. Standing before her.

Its foot planted along the ledge, where it decided to stop and she took another deep breath, focusing even harder now. She could hear Titus's breathing despite his distance away from her. She could sense the Dust building up inside of his kopides, on the verge of overloading and destroying everything in its path. She could feel the breeze drifting out over the canyon, and the stone bridge swaying ever so lightly. She knew in an instant, down to the exact inch and elevation, where she needed to fire the arrow to hit its mark with complete accuracy. Her hand steadied and she prepared to release the arrow. So this was a Geist…

Ruby had told her that Jaune had discovered that if they destroyed all of the limbs, it would give them their best shot at its face. Neela had something slightly different in mind, but in principle, would work exactly the same. Eliana loaded her next set of six bullets into the gun and turned to her teammate, her mouth opening to yell at Neela. She only needed a moment longer, and when she used Hunter's Gaze, that moment seemed to last an eternity despite lasting only a couple of seconds.

"It isn't stopping!" Eliana shouted out. Neela tensed up for a moment as the Grimm decided that it would take another step forward and test whether or not the bridge would be able to take the weight.

"Now!" Neela shouted. Ilia shot out of Titus and he threw his arms out, sending her screaming towards the beast. Her blades penetrated the side of the temple and she climbed up as Neela fired an arrow towards her. Ilia snatched it out of the air and held it for a moment.

"What…" Ilia began to call but was cut off as one of the monster's tree limbs swept over its head, trying to knock her off. Eliana quickly opened a force field, putting a dent in the tree and it pulled its arm away.

"Lodge that into the body near its face!" Neela called out. Ilia shrugged and ran to the other side of its head, slamming the arrow in. The stones that made up its head shifted on the top, sliding upward to form new pedestals and slamming into Ilia's chin. She fell limp on top of it. Neela quickly used her electronic arm brace and activated the arrow, but it didn't explode. Neela's eyes grew wide. Had it misfired or been improperly coated? The Geist thrust its arms forward and branches extended from the top of the tree, growing out towards Neela and Eliana and wrapping around the bridge, destroying it.

"Neela!" Eliana shouted. She formed a force field around herself as the branches grew past her and shattered it, sending wood splintering in every direction as she leapt onto the tree. She caught Neela's grappling hook as it reached her and she pulled Neela up who had nearly fallen into the abyss. Eliana gave her a smile as she nodded and they ran down the tree, sliding and leaping over new branches that tried to ensnare them. Neela grappled up to the top of the Geist, watching as Eliana leapt up using several force field platforms. Eliana smirked as she swayed slightly.

"Elli?" Neela asked her. Eliana brushed her off.

'I don't usually use my semblance this much. I'll be fine," she replied out of breath. Neela grabbed Ilia and slid off the back with Eliana beside her. Neela landed on her feet carrying Ilia and Titus made quick work of catching Eliana. Neela set Ilia gently on the ground and she started to come to. She sat beside them for a moment.

"Elli. Any chance you can hit the arrowhead from here?" Eliana smirked as she leapt out of Titus's arms and aimed.

"Neela. Please." Eliana fired one bullet as the Geist turned back around to face them and the arrow was destroyed, sending a blast of electricity into the Geist. It stumbled back as its body crumbled slightly, sliding into the ravine. The tree growth shrunk away, unraveling and releasing the bridge, allowing it to fully crumble. Ilia smiled as she leapt up and down and grabbed Titus, shaking him.

"We did it!" Ilia yelled. Titus smiled for a moment before he regained his wit and composure, pushing Ilia off of him.

"Of course we did," he told her. They turned back to the forest and Eliana sighed.

"That thing kind of wrecked our chances of getting out of here quickly," Eliana stated.

"You and I still need to get a relic," Ilia told her. Eliana glanced back before looking at Ilia.

"Wasn't that thing the temple? The relics were on that Grimm, weren't they?" Eliana asked Ilia. Ilia shrugged.

"They probably fell off back at that first meadow, right?" Ilia offered. She turned to Neela. "I'm Ilia Cherny by the way." As they continued their conversation, a tangle of tree growth quickly crept across the ground and grabbed Titus, dragging him towards the canyon.

"Hey!" He exclaimed as he was scraped across the ground, struggling to reach his swords which he had sheathed. The branches made sure they were pinned to his sides and pulled him over. Neela glanced back.

"Titus!" She shouted. She ran to the ledge and watched as Ilia dashed past, sliding over and quickly spinning her body completely around, using her blades to allow her to slide down the incline. Eliana nodded and Neela leapt over, firing her grappling hook at the top of the cliff. Eliana unloaded a round of ice Dust, ensuring that it was secure and grabbed Neela's hand as Neela reached the end of the immediate tether length. She quickly lowered them down into the pit, Ilia just a few feet ahead of them, and Titus barely out of view, slamming his fists against the wood in hopes of freeing himself. As they reached the bottom the Geist tossed Titus away, planting him into the side of the opposite wall and doing a number on his aura.

Ilia charged the monster, sliding under it as she managed to grab a handful of gravity Dust from her pocket. She wiped it across the ground and leapt through the air as the Geist stepped on the Dust, throwing her forward towards Titus and causing its leg to be removed. It toppled onto its side, panicking for a moment as it looked to substitute something else in for its missing appendage. Ilia grabbed Titus and pulled herself into his body once more.

 _Borrow some of my aura._  Titus didn't understand why she would go to all of this trouble. What was it that made her act this way?  _I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I think I was drawn to you because you seem safe._   _I haven't felt that in a while and wasn't sure how to react._ He chuckled slightly to himself.

"You've got a strange way of showing appreciation," he told her. She took control of his body and dove out of the way as the tree branches lashed out again, knocking down one of the pillars that rose high above for the fallen bridge. Eliana opened a barrier over them and the old stone slammed off of it and scattered. The Geist flailed about, still unable to find another limb. Its branches attempted to secure Neela but she formed her weapon into its sword form and sliced them away. Ilia leapt out of Titus as he removed his swords and slammed them into the ground, activating them. The gravity Dust coursed through the ground and slammed into the Geist's torso, cracking the temple further. "What do we do?!"

Neela took a deep breath and looked at the three of them. She knew now for certain that they had to remove its limbs before their attacks would be effective, she just wasn't sure how. She fired several fire arrows at the Geist as they regrouped, running away from it as it blocked them with its arm, setting the trees ablaze. What was this? For a moment, Neela wondered if this was a situation that they'd be able to make it out of. Titus grabbed her by the shoulder and she glanced up at him.

"Titus?" He smirked and swallowed his pride. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't have a strategy, and Neela seemed more than capable of leading them to defeating this thing. He looked down at her for a brief moment before looking back up at the Geist.

"You can do this," he told her.  _I can do this. I know I can._  She nodded in agreement. She closed her eyes and activated her semblance, taking a deep breath in as she crouched and reformed her weapon into a bow. She could hear and feel the three of them, all looking to her as the Geist slowly rose, opting to form a sort of shadow limb and moving closer to them. She could see the pillars towering above and knew that they some were still attached to structures. It was their best odds, and Neela had to take them. She opened her eyes.

"Titus, destroy the pillar beside you and as the debris lines up, fire it at the Geist's other leg!" Neela shouted. "Elli, open a barrier behind it large enough to keep it from moving. Ilia, you're riding me!" Neela blushed immediately and Eliana giggled. Ilia grabbed Neela's arm and jumped into her body.

 _You should probably think of a different way to phrase that._ Neela ran away from the Geist and prepared herself, drawing back a gravity Dust arrow and setting her body.

"Now!" She yelled. Titus turned and smashed apart the pillar, diving back as the debris fell, scattering around them. He found his feet again at the last moment, blasting a large rock platform at the Geist, destroying its other leg. It stumbled away from them, falling onto Eliana's force field, propping it upright.  _Go!_  Ilia leapt out and Neela nailed her with her gravity arrow, launching her through the air and towards the beast. Neela quickly loaded an earth arrow and hit Ilia again, coating her in a layer of rock. She smirked as she planted into the Geist's body, it quickly reached for her and the two trees crashed together, slamming her between them.

"Ilia!" Eliana called out. Neela quickly ran to Eliana and grabbed her arm before she could take off.

"Wait!" Neela yelled. The Geist's arms shook as Ilia pushed the trees away from her, her own body shaking and still covered in rock. "Titus!"

"Got it!" He called back knowing what she wanted. He slashed both of his blades through the air as he ran towards the Grimm, wave after wave of gravity crashing into its arms and keeping it from hitting Ilia again. Ilia opened fire on it, her bullets ricocheting off of its actual head's bone armor. Titus continued his barrage on its arms, driving them further and further back. Neela spotted openings in the roots as the Geist's arms were now oriented behind it and fired an ice arrow into both. The trees exploded into ice which Titus blasted apart, leaving the Grimm without any defense.

The stone wore off of Ilia and the Geist abandoned its body, throwing her to the ground with its spectral body and flying up to escape. Titus's Dust brushed past it as it weaved by, nearly at the top. Eliana threw her arm up quickly, firing a single shot coated in earth Dust and it slammed into the spirit. Its body became stone and it crashed back into the canyon, shattering as it slammed against the bottom. Neela let out a sigh as she knelt on the ground. She couldn't help but admit to herself the fact that she had never fought that hard before, and that she was worried for a few fleeting moments that she could have died. More importantly, however, was the fact that they had managed to pull it off, and that's what mattered. She shook it off as Eliana stumbled over to her and hugged her.

"Let's not fight any more of those," Eliana gasped, her body weak from exhaustion. Neela nodded and held her close.

"Agreed." They let go of each other as Titus and Ilia joined them.

"You did good," Titus admitted. Neela smirked and nodded at him.

"Thanks," she replied. She looked up towards the top of the canyon. Now they had to decide the best way to get out of there.

"Hey!" someone shouted at the top and Neela recognized the voice as Cobalt's. "You guys all alive down there?" Ilia placed her hand on her left hip, peering up with her right hand shading her eyes.

"Of course! Who the hell do you think we are?!" Ilia shouted up. Cobalt chuckled and tossed something into the ravine, a small trinket that Ilia snatched out of the air. She looked over the Golden Knight before showing it to Eliana. Eliana smiled.

"Well, I guess now we just have to get out of here," Eliana told them. Titus gave an abrupt laugh and looked at them as they were all staring at him.

"What?" He asked. He folded his arms. "Getting out of here will be way easier than anything else we've done today so far."

* * *

Cobalt Thénard, Bái Lung, Lykos Asimi, and Tawney Lupara. The four of you showed a most impressive display of skill and teamwork out there in the field as you retrieved the black rooks and returned them to us. You were able to take down a Prime Beringel, which is quite impressive, but you still have much to learn and room to grow. For the remainder of your time at Beacon, the four of you will be a part of Team CBLT which will be led by Cobalt Thénard. Congratulations on passing the initiation," Glynda told them as they stood on the stage and bowed to her as the group of students cheered.

Neela rubbed her hands together just off of the stage as her fingers trembled against each other. They were the last team to be announced, this was it. Would she be leading them, or would it be given to Titus? She had to admit that he was probably the strongest out of the four of them, but there was more to a leader than brawn, right? She glanced at Titus who swallowed hard as Team CBLT left the stage and they were motioned by Blake to step up. They filed on, Neela standing beside Eliana, with Ilia to her right and Titus on the other side of Eliana. Eliana grabbed Neela's hand and Neela looked down at it before looking back up at Eliana who was smiling.  _Elli, you always know how to get me, don't you?_

Neela felt herself starting to calm down as she looked out at the seats that were filled with students, she hadn't noticed them in the Great Hall that morning or night before. She wondered if sometimes this room doubled as one of the arenas, but none of that mattered so much right now, did it? This was it. They were about to have their first grade at Beacon handed to them and the teachers had already sealed their fates as to which team they would be on. Neela was sure that she could live with the students that destiny had paired her with, she didn't know much about Ilia, but the girl seemed okay. However, if Neela was made the leader, was it always going to be a constant struggle for power between her and Titus?

Neela recalled Blake and Yang telling her that when they had first been placed on their team, it took Weiss a little over a few weeks to get completely used to Ruby being in charge. In Weiss' mind, anything less than her leadership was the wrong choice, but after talking things over with her teammates and her teachers, she finally came to accept the fact that Ruby could lead just as well, and that Weiss would just have to be the best teammate that she could be. Neela hoped and prayed that it would be just as easy with Titus if she was chosen. On the other hand, if Titus was chosen, would she be able to accept that fact? It was a toss-up and a lot to ask of either of them, but at this point, it was up to Glynda.

"Neela Xiao Long, Ilia Cherny, Titus Prasinos, and Eliana Latherus. Your team retrieved and returned both of the golden four of you put on an exhibition of power from first-year students, unlike anything that we have ever seen in the history of Beacon, including the years before it was rebuilt. Killing a Geist is one of the most difficult things that a Huntsman or Huntress can do, even after graduating from the academy. With all of that being said, some of you performed quite sloppily and made mistakes that shouldn't have happened. There will always be room for improvement.

Your team is the last team of today's ceremony, and for the rest of your attendance at Beacon, you will be the members of Team NITE. Your team will be led by Neela Xiao Long. Congratulations on passing the initiation and thank you to all of you for coming today! Years 2 - 4, please return to your studies. Year 1 students will be assigned dorms and are advised towards learning their way around the campus as your classes will begin tomorrow. You are all dismissed," Glynda said as she finished addressing the crowd and left.

Neela glanced across at Titus who was clapping like the rest of them, giving a nod of acknowledgment to Neela who nodded back and smiled as Eliana grabbed her and shook her hard by the shoulders.

"You did it! And we're on the same team together! NITE is going to be unstoppable!" Eliana declared as Neela laughed and managed to free herself from Eliana's clutches.

" _We_  did it. I couldn't have taken that Geist down without all three of you with me," Neela explained as they stepped off of the stage. Team CBLT was waiting and greeted them with hugs and handshakes. Cobalt smirked and nodded to Neela as he approached her, shaking her hand.

"Congratulations on becoming the lead for your team," Cobalt told her as they all exited the Great Hall through the main doors and stepped out into the sunlight. Neela beamed in the warmth of the afternoon. Eliana was busy talking to Tawney and they were laughing about something as Neela looked around the group for a moment to try and find Titus. He had disappeared, as well as Lykos from Cobalt's group. Neela shook her head, it was probably nothing. "So, who thinks we should go find our rooms and then celebrate?" Eliana and Tawney's hands shot into the air, Eliana lightly bouncing and waving her arms.

"Great idea!" Tawney shouted out.

"Sounds good to me!" Eliana followed after her. Bái now also noticed that Lykos was gone and moved past Ilia to stand next to Cobalt.

"Cobalt, have you seen Lykos-kun?" She asked. Neela activated her semblance, but there was no sign of them within her range.

"He stepped away with Coco at the end of the ceremony. Apparently, they needed to take care of something that had happened while we were in the forest," Cobalt told her. She bit her lip and turned away, her eyes darting around nervously. Cobalt placed a hand lightly on her shoulder and she shuddered momentarily before looking back at him. His eyes were kind and he smiled at her, calming her down. "I'm sure whatever happened, it wasn't Lykos' fault. He might be an extremely reserved individual, but he seems like he's an alright guy." This was enough to reassure Bái and she gave a slight smile. "So, you think we'll be ready to celebrate tonight?"

"I like pizza," she said quietly. He grinned and turned to the rest of them.

"Who likes pizza?!" He called out to them. Eliana and Tawney once again threw their hands up and Ilia shook her head at them, slowly raising her own hand. He looked back down at Bái. "Pizza it is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points to anyone who noticed the call back to an older anime in there! The teams have been chosen, come back next week to see if Titus can come to grips with not being chosen as the leader of NITE. Also, Lykos tells Coco what happened to Bái in the forest in Chapter 14 - Expelled or Worse?!
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	18. Expelled or Worse?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lykos is brought in to be asked about the scuffle he had with Paris in the woods. Meanwhile, Titus tries getting used to not leading a team.

Coco led Lykos down a series of endless hallways in the administrative building and they seemed to pass by a countless and needless number of cubicles and offices. From the size of the building, Lykos felt more like Beacon was a corporation than it was a school. They finally reached the end of the last hallway, a large black wooden door stood before them and Coco opened it up, allowing Lykos to enter the room before her. On the opposite side of the room stood the kid that had assaulted Bái, leaning against the wall with a smug look on his face. Now Lykos was finally able to get a good look at him, adrenaline and rage had kept him from noticing any defining details before.

The kid had black hair that was long and flowing with a golden highlighted streak along the right side of his face, stopping at the middle of his back. He had vibrant orange eyes, they observed Lykos cautiously as Coco closed the door behind him and offered him a seat, the only object in the small, empty room. Lykos nodded in gratitude and sat, watching the kid closely. He wore a black spandex shirt much like Cobalt but opted for a tan pair of cargo pants and a harsh golden cape that matched his hair highlight. The cape covered his entire body, with the exception of his right arm which was proudly exposed, holding the same dagger as before, but Lykos could see now that it was a kunai.

"Lykos, I've been informed that you've already met Mr. Paris Goldfinch, is that correct?" Lykos stammered a snicker under his breath, what a name. Lykos glanced up at Coco who motioned her head towards Paris. Lykos sighed.

"That is correct ma'am," He replied. Coco looked at Paris who still had the same grin plastered on his lips. Simple yet vicious. It was as if Paris thought he was victorious before he had even met his opponent. She smiled at him but he discarded her confidence and commenced staring straight through Lykos.

"Paris says that you attacked him. Is this also true?" She asked. Lykos could hear it in the tone of her voice, he knew that she already had the answer. He assumed that she found some sort of amusement in teaching this student a lesson, so Lykos complied and followed her prompts.

"Yes, ma'am." There was a silence before Coco removed her glasses and looked into Lykos' eyes. She was about to drive her point home. She was going to crucify this troublemaker before she sent him back to where he came from and in some strange interworking that he knew nothing about, she had made Lykos her weapon of choice. He was but one of two witnesses but he could feel that Coco knew just as well as he did that Bái would never have the confidence nor the willpower to sentence this piece of trash into expulsion. Lykos, however, had no qualms about it and would do it as many times as she desired of him.

"What else Lykos?" She asked. Paris retained his composure, nothing about where the conversation was going was causing him any distress, and Lykos began to worry that the attacker had other things planned. Perhaps Bái was just an inconvenience that had stood between Paris and his true goal, whatever it might be. Lykos looked at Paris, trying to pierce through the man's lack of empathy, but it was no use. It was time to stop toying with him and deliver the killing blow. Lykos' eyes glimmered for a fleeting second, causing his opponent's breath to catch for a moment.  _He might not be terrified of us, but clearly, he has a past with Grimm._  Lykos smirked.

"He tried to sexually assault Bái Lung," Lykos stated flatly. Coco's attention turned back to Paris who had somehow found a way to smile even more wickedly, cackling under his breath.

"It's a great story, but you have no proof. I have cuts on my body that are from your shuriken, make no mistake. However, you don't have a scratch on you and neither does Ms. Lung. I think it's more than obvious who is at fault here, Mrs. Adel. I will take my rightful place now on Team CBLT, or whatever the hell we'll be known as now." So that was his angle the entire time. He had Lykos dead to rights and Lykos knew it. What else could be done? He didn't expect Coco to simply take his word for it, it was impractical to think that she would. To Lykos' surprise, he could hear Coco chuckling under her breath and he faced her. Her teeth were gritted in a wry snarl that rivaled Paris'. His eyes dulled for a moment as she removed her scroll from her pocket and marched across the room to him.

"You didn't really think that you were going to get away with what you did to Bái, did you?" Coco asked, her words casting darkness onto Paris as he trembled, looking away from Lykos to view the video. There was no denying the images. He had her pinned to a tree and explicitly declared what he intended to do with her. He looked up at Coco, her eyes daggers as she bit her lip. "What's the matter Paris? Never been overpowered by a woman before? You were the same one who asked if I was single during our trip out there, weren't you? There's a word for guys like you, but as a teacher, they don't allow me to use those words to describe my students."

Lykos watched in a mild form of fear that was overtaken by amazement. She was letting him have it, and she showed no intention of letting up at any point. If not for the sheer fact that Lykos was determined to obey the rules set out before him, Coco had further destroyed any iotas of backlash or rebellion. Lykos stood slowly as he noted Paris's ocular grip on him loosening, unable to concentrate with Coco intimidating him. She chuckled again as she put her glasses back on and placed her scroll back into her pocket slowly. She lifted her purse, transforming it into its gun form, and placing the muzzle against his stomach.

"You're not my student anymore though. You are hereby expelled, Mr. Goldfinch, and you are never allowed on the school grounds under any circumstance. If I find out that you've done something like this ever again, you better hope that the courts give you a speedy trial and the death penalty, because if they don't, we're going to find out just how much of this gun you can take up your ass. Got it?" Coco told him. It was as though she was a demon, and Paris was a lost soul that wanted nothing more than to escape and return to the light. That's the way it seemed for the moment anyway. She turned her gun back into its purse form and grabbed him by the clasp of his cape, clutching him close to her face. "Get out."

He smiled, either out of his mind or unimpressed with her scare tactics and freed himself. He straightened out his cape and began heading towards the door before stopping directly beside Lykos.

"You may have gotten the jump on me the first time Lykos, but it's time I return the favor. What do you say?" He asked. Lykos turned his head to face Paris, not completely understanding what he meant and without any indication or notice, Paris threw his weight at Lykos, tackling him and sending both of them through a rift that he had opened, throwing them out in the same room. Lykos slid away from Paris as he shoved him off and watched as Coco transformed her weapon back quickly, peering around as though she didn't see either of them.

"Lykos! Paris! What the hell's going on?!" She demanded. Lykos reached back and formed his whip quickly, lashing out and knocking Paris into the wall. Paris bounded off and knocked another attack away with his kunai, snarling as he stood ready in a battle stance, left hand reaching for something under his cloak. "So this is your defensive semblance. You little shit!" Paris cackled again, throwing his head back. Lykos crouched, whip gripped tightly in his hand as he slowly circled the room in the same direction as Paris.

"She's right. This is my ultimate defense. And unless you defeat me, it will also be your demise," Paris explained. Lykos didn't fully comprehend what was happening, why was he being targeted? He had only one enemy, and that enemy had succumbed long ago. Lykos lashed out again and Paris batted it away again with his knife, lifting his left hand and firing something that shot out several senbon needles. Lykos was able to dodge most of them, two slamming into his left arm and instantly freezing it. It was paralyzed and Lykos glanced at Paris in shock, trying to mask his instantaneous horror. Paris was more than amused. "Dust laced senbons? Will this be the end of my dear friend Lykos?"

Lykos had to admit that he was impressed, but he wouldn't allow himself to go out so easily. He activated a button on the handle of his switch, covering his forearms in shuriken as he strafed a touch more slowly now. He needed to be careful. He needed to read his opponent and take him down by whatever means were necessary. Lykos was convinced that at some point this psycho was going to mess up and when he did, Lykos would exploit that weakness, much like the one he already knew about. This kid had an unhealthy fear of Grimm, just the idea of Lykos using the illusion on him again earlier had caused him a brief moment of uncertainty. It wasn't much, but it might be enough.

Lykos noted movement under his opponent's cape once again and prepared himself, this time he was ready. With a quick lift of his hand, Paris fired more senbons at Lykos, all of which he deflected by scattering out his shuriken, returning to his forearms as the senbons exploded off of them. They both stopped moving, staring each other down for a moment. Lykos understood now that somehow Paris was able to produce senbon needles that were laced, or possibly made, with different kinds of Dust. He smiled at his opponent out of a mutual respect. It wasn't going to be an easy fight, and Lykos found pleasure in that. Paris threw his kunai, missing Lykos by a decent margin and Lykos scattered his shuriken again.

Paris lifted his left arm, all of the incoming projectiles tearing at his outfit, but seeming to spare Paris any pain, simply glancing off of his arm and returning to Lykos. He needed Paris to feel pain. He wanted Paris to know what he did was wrong and right now he was the only one who could make him see that. Lykos scowled and modified his attack quickly, recreating his whip and lashing out for Paris again, but Paris now held another kunai and blocked the attack as he had before. Lykos leapt back, sliding away slightly and stopping at the wall beside the first dagger. He had more than one, but why had someone as skilled as Paris missed him by so much before?

"Dammit!" Coco yelled out as she had exhausted all of her optic filters on her sunglasses. Wherever they were was a place that she couldn't see, and all that she could do now was hope that Lykos was victorious. She dialed Glynda on her scroll, not knowing what was happening around her. No answer on the first attempt and she quickly moved out into the hallway. As the door slammed, Paris glanced back and smiled again, this time it was different. It wasn't menacing. It was as if he meant it sincerely, the warmth from it touching Lykos and causing his guard to drop for a moment.

Paris sprinted forward, unaware that Lykos had feeling again in his left arm, and firing another hail of senbons. With his whip formed, Lykos couldn't avoid or deflect all of them and he chose to use the same arm again in defense, this time being hit with earth Dust. It dragged his arm to the ground, complete deadweight, and not unlike the first paralyzation, with the exception of this attack making his arm feel much heavier than it actually was. Paris slowed, coming to a stop and grabbing Lykos by the neck, examining the pelt. Paris sneered as he sliced his blade against Lykos' cheek, his aura confused between fixing his arm and taking the injury. It drew blood.

"I'm disappointed by all of this, really," Paris explained. He forced Lykos to look up at him by placing his blade under his chin. "I anticipated a better fight from the first year students of Beacon. Why, after seeing you all in battle, watching you take down that Beringel, I expected so much more. I was convinced that out of all of them, you'd be a worthy adversary, if not only because the idea of what I might do to that poor girl, would send you to another level of strength you didn't know that you possessed. I saw the look in your eye when you leapt down from the trees and attacked me. Those were the eyes of a killer! Who will protect her if you die?"

_Lykos, just go before daddy hurts you too.  
_ _Who will protect me if you die Lykos?  
_ _Just go…_

Lykos felt the same rage he had felt from the forest that morning fill his body once again and his left arm swung up despite the psychological struggle of thinking that it was attached to a boulder. His fist smashed into Paris' face and sent the man sprawling away, cackling as he came to a stop and threw the other kunai, this time missing Lykos to the other side. Lykos felt the nearly invisible Dust thread that was connected to the two knives brush against his chest but it was too late for a reaction. Paris flicked his wrist under his cloak and the wire tightened, throwing Lykos to the wall and pinning him there. Who was this man? Was he even human?

The throwing stars leapt from his whip to his arms and thrashed out towards Paris again who blocked them in the same manner. He hardly seemed to care as they once again ricochet off his left arm. Lykos noted the repeated tactic and concluded that his left arm must be covered in some sort of armor, where his right arm visibly wasn't. The shuriken fell to the ground and Lykos pressed the button on his whip's handle several times with no effect. Paris chuckled as he moved closer once again.

"Well this is absolutely tragic," Paris told him. "You're weaponless and your semblance is nothing more than a gimmick. What will you do?" Lykos' eyes lit up and a Beowolf appeared before Paris, roaring at the man as he laughed crazily. "No matter how hard you try to cloak yourself with this and distract me from where you are, you can't move, I know…" Without time to react, all of Lykos' projectiles tore across Paris' right arm and returned to Lykos. The pain proved enough and Paris quickly reached for his injured limb with his left hand, breaking the Dust wire's grip on Lykos and freeing him. Lykos felt the rage rush back in, maintaining the illusion and quickly moving past Paris, who glanced back at the wall where Lykos had been, knowing his nemesis was no longer bound.

"You underestimated me. Faking equipment failure? That's an old trick," Lykos spoke from the Grimm, still looming large over Paris. Paris scowled and lashed out blindly with his dagger as Lykos prepared to move in for the decisive blow. All he would need is to wrap his whip around Paris' right arm and pull him in, a hard and well-placed hit to the nose would take him down for sure. Lykos lashed out and caught his opponent, drawing him in. His fist stopped but inches from Paris' nose and the two of them looked at each other in confusion as they were both tossed across the room. Paris' dimension was torn open and they spilled out, Lykos falling onto his chest as his shurikens deactivated and slid across the floor. Paris was dragged to his feet by Coco, who had reentered the room after retrieving Glynda from down the hall.

"Headmistress, I'm sorry," Lykos began as he knelt, drawing in his projectiles and sending them back into his cloak. He attached the whip's handle to his hip and found his feet, looking at Paris who struggled futilely against Coco's death grip on him. He raised his left arm again and fired, watching his senbons fall harmlessly to the floor as Glynda deflected them. She looked at them and then back at Paris who still seemed undeterred. Again Lykos was convinced that there was more going on with this kid, but he knew he wouldn't get the chance to find out.

"Why are you apologizing Lykos?" Glynda asked. "This morning you saved Bái and now you saw it fit to save yourself. You have nothing to apologize for." Glynda threw the door open with her telekinesis and pointed with her switch. "Mrs. Adel. I will contact the authorities in Vale. If you would be so kind as to escort Mr. Goldfinch to the cliff side and see to it that he gets a proper ride back to the city, it would be greatly appreciated." Coco nodded and strong-armed Paris, shoving him towards the door as he cringed in pain. He snarled at Lykos on the way by.

"This isn't over Lykos. You will see me again," Paris shouted. Coco shoved her gun into his back, causing him to move a bit more quickly.

"Shut up kid," Coco told him closing the door behind her. Lykos moved to the seat in the middle of the room as Glynda walked around to face him. She gave him a soft smile and knelt so that she was at eye level with him.

"I'm glad that we have you Lykos. Bái could have been seriously hurt if you wouldn't have shown up when you did. We'll see to it that Paris doesn't cause the two of you or anyone else here any more trouble," Glynda reassured him. She stood and pulled him to his feet, grabbing his face and looking him over for any injuries. She noted the cut that ran across his face from Paris slashing him. She smirked. "It appears as though you'll have a nice scar to write home about." He smirked back at her as she let go and walked past him.

"I'll keep her safe," Lykos spoke as Glynda opened the door. He wasn't sure what was driving him to do it, but he felt a sense of responsibility regarding Bái's safety. She stopped for a moment, adjusting her glasses and grinning.

"You are dismissed."

* * *

Titus stepped out of the tower and held the door open as another student entered in, thanking him for his courteous move. He brushed off the compliment and walked alongside the building until he reached a stretch of wall that seemed void of any other students and leaned back against it. His resolve had been torn apart in a single day by that archer with the teal hair. Neela Xiao Long, daughter of Blake and Yang of RWBY, but that didn't matter to Titus. She was capable and she was strong. She had saved him from that meadow that caused him to go into a full-fledged fit of PTSD.

He didn't care about any of that! This was meant to be his day to be noticed! For the rest of his training, they would look at his team and say 'There's Neela and her team'. Everything would revolve around Neela now, and the thought of it brought a fit of anxiety and nausea to Titus. That's why he had headed to the tower while they hadn't been looking. He hoped that Winter was around and that he could formally request to return to Atlas. He would train harder if that's what the Atlas Military wanted, he just didn't want to train under Neela. However, when he placed his call, one of the other lieutenant generals had picked up and informed him that General Branwen was at a council meeting and couldn't be bothered at the time.

He placed his hands on his knees, the world spinning around him and sucker punching him until he was convinced he was going to have another episode. Why was he remembering this now, he had long forgotten everything that had happened that day. He had talked to countless counselors, psychologists, anyone that he could and was willing to give him advice until Winter had come along. She trained him so hard that he hadn't had time to remember any of it. She had replaced Ironwood, and it was his goal now to replace her when she retired. He was supposed to graduate at the top of his class in Atlas, not behind this damn prodigy in Vale!

He stood tall again, finally regaining his wits as he removed his scroll and looked over the map of the school that he had downloaded. With any luck, he could find somewhere quiet to train for the rest of the day and just avoid his teammates. The facts tumbled over in his head as he lost his concentration again and slid down against the wall, sitting on the stone tiling that surrounded the building as he shook his head. He could make the best of this, couldn't he? Though there was the fact that he had been placed on the same team as Ilia. There was something about her that irked him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"So this is where you ran off to?" asked Ilia as she sat down next to him. The hair stood up on the back of his neck as his body became stiff.  _Speak of the devil._  He grumbled slightly and buried his head in his hands. Why couldn't anyone else come and find him? Did Neela send Ilia to go looking for him? Was she too busy with Eliana to send her or come look for herself? Titus sighed and moved away from her, standing as she leapt to her feet and quickly moved in front of him. "Where are you going?"

"Somewhere alone," he told her as he shoved past. She reached out for him but he slipped out of her grip and shoved her hand away. "Are you wanting me to thank you for earlier back in the forest? Is that it?" Ilia looked at him in confusion for a moment, taking her a few extra seconds to realize what was going on, even if she didn't follow completely with his train of thought. She had always thought of herself as a loner, but Titus was simply abusing the privilege and sooner or later he would have to come to terms with having a team. She was surprised that the Geist hadn't knocked more sense into him.

"No. Teammates have each others' backs. It's part of being a team. You're telling me that in all of the years that you were in Atlas, they didn't teach you the importance of relying on the help of others every now and then?" She asked him. His mind traveled back to the torn downtown being battered by a storm as the sniper stood over him, laughing in assumed victory. They had taught him once, but he also knew the value of being strong on his own. "I know when the time comes you'll return the favor. I don't need thanks. We were wondering where you went. You didn't tell anyone you were coming to the tower."

"I didn't want anyone knowing," he told her. "I don't owe any of you anything. I don't have to tell you where I'm going either."

"Don't be like that Titus. I'm sorry about the wallet, okay? Please come back to the dorm with me."

Titus gave her the cold shoulder, not even offering a reply as he slowly walked away from her and towards the front of the campus, planning on heading to the cliffs and taking an airship to Vale. He needed a change of scenery and planned on stocking up on Dust, perhaps even finding an arms dealer that would be willing to upgrade his kopides to use multiple Dust forms. He needed to get it done sooner than later and now seemed like a better time than ever. He'd be able to call Winter when he returned in the evening.

"I'll be back before lights out tonight," Titus called back to her. She gritted her teeth, balling up her fists and bottling up a sudden rage that had overcome her.

"Don't do this!" She screamed. He stopped in his tracks, head tilting slightly as he looked back at her. Everyone that was nearby the building gave them a look and Titus acknowledged them as he closed the distance between Ilia and himself, wondering what had gotten into her. "Titus, I have been alone for the last ten years! You don't think that I know what it's like, just because I've taken it differently than you have? Because I turned out differently than you did? You don't need to walk down that path anymore…" He grabbed her and pulled her close, she gasped at the pain his grip caused.

"You know nothing of the pain I endured. Being alone is easier. If you were truly alone, you'd know that," Titus told her. He let go of her and stepped away as she seethed, rubbing her arm.

"It's selfish!" She shouted. Her face was red with rage and her eyes glossed slightly, causing Titus to be taken aback. He imagined that she was stronger than this, why was she getting so emotional over the idea of him leaving? "Maybe I was wrong. Why would I feel safe around such a coward?" She asked. His eyes narrowed as his mind trembled. The sniper standing above him as he laid on the road, knowing that he wasn't strong enough to defeat the man. That was a moment of true fear, but he had chosen to be alone from that moment on for a good reason, hadn't he? It was the only way that he could carry on. He softened slightly, still on his guard as she handed him a key card. "If you decide to join us, Titus, that's the key to the room. Once we have everything set up we're going to head down to Vale for a bite to eat." Ilia started to walk away as Titus looked the card over in his hand.

"Did Neela send you to get me?" Titus asked. Ilia shook her head and continued away from him back towards the dorms.

"Nobody sent me Titus," she replied without stopping or looking back. He watched her for a long moment as she walked away before looking back down at the card in his hand. There was something about her, and somehow she knew all of the right buttons to press.

_They needed to come together under the idea that no matter who was truly the strongest, they could achieve an even greater strength if they worked together.  
_ _Please, try and enjoy yourself while you are here.  
_ _Do it for yourself, Titus._

Titus gritted his teeth for a moment as he looked towards the cliffside. This was only the first day. He could enjoy himself for once, just for one day, right?

"Okay, so now the first thing that we have to figure out is how we plan on arranging the room. I feel like it's going to be a little on the crowded side, even just with the beds. I'm thinking we can probably sort something out, but does anyone have any suggestions?" Neela asked as she set down her bags and moved them out of the doorway as Eliana and Ilia stepped into the room behind her. She looked the room over. Two beds pushed to each side, room in the middle for a short shelf or dresser under a larger window. Four desks covering most of the rest of the walls closer to the door. On the left was a door that led to their personal bathroom and a door on the right opened up into a small closet.

"Did you ask something? I couldn't hear you while I was in the hall," Ilia told Neela. Neela's jaw slacked slightly and she chuckled.  _Off to a great start already._

"I was asking if anyone had suggestions on how to set up the beds," Neela stated again as she dragged her belongings further into the room as the other two girls brought in their own luggage. Titus knocked on the door frame and entered the room behind Ilia who looked back up at him and smirked. "Titus! Great! You're here!" Titus rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. Neela was relieved.

"We were just discussing how we should set the room up. There's not a lot of room in here for the beds and it looks like the three of us ladies have quite a bit more with us than the one suitcase you're carrying," Eliana told him. "We could try bunk beds! Your moms said that they had bunk beds for the year that they were here for!" Ilia shook her head.

"I'm not real big on confined spaces," she told them.

"I don't think that it would be the best idea for someone my size," Titus added.

"We don't have to do everything like my parents, Elli," Neela replied. Eliana folded her arms and sat on top of her luggage once again. She jerked her head to the right and stared up at the ceiling, giving off an aura of discontent.

"I was just trying to be helpful," she said acting pouty. An idea sprung into her head and she leapt off of her stack and shook Neela. "I've got it!" Neela pulled away and brushed herself off, laughing as Eliana smiled and bounced in place. Neela knew that Eliana always had the craziest ideas and wondered what her friend had managed to cook up this time.

"Okay, okay. What's your idea, Elli?" Neela asked.

"We could get rid of one of the beds altogether if you and I sleep together like we did when we were kids!" Eliana exclaimed. Neela didn't need to be told that she was blushing and Titus' typically plain demeanor cracked. He smirked slightly and nudged Ilia who startled and looked up at him. He nodded to Neela who gave them both a death stare, her eyes almost pleading for a way out, but neither of them seemed to be offering assistance. Either they were overly amused or just as lost as Neela for a reaction and were keeping quiet as she worked it out in her head. Eliana truly had no clue about Neela's feelings, did she? Unless her best friend knew completely what was going on and wanted to see how she would react to it, but Neela couldn't bring herself to agree to such a thing. Neela shook her head, covering her mouth with her hand to conceal her cheeks. "What?"

"Elli, we're a little bit bigger now than we were as kids. I don't think we would both fit," Neela told her. Eliana rolled her eyes.

"Sure we can! We'll just have to cuddle a bit," Eliana reassured her. Neela blushed harder and her eyes became frantic as she tried to think of another rebuttal. Titus chuckled audibly.

"I think that's a great plan," Titus spoke. Neela glared up quickly at him. So this is how he was going to get his kicks? Was it so obvious to everyone else that she had feelings for Eliana? If it was so obvious, why was Eliana so oblivious to the fact? "Actually, we can just get rid of another bed if I take Ilia up on her offer from before…" Titus yelped in pain and stepped out into the hallway for a moment, Ilia had stomped on his right foot and he cringed as he stumbled out laughing. Ilia smiled at them as Eliana turned to look back at her.

"You two can work this out in here. I'm going to have a quick word or two with Titus," Ilia told them. She left the room and slammed the door behind her. The girls listened for a moment as there was a loud thumping noise in the hallway, followed by silence. Eliana returned her gaze to Neela who had mostly come down from her embarrassment and she cleared her throat as she sat on the bed.

"I think it'll work if you and I do the bunk bed, and Ilia and Titus just keep their beds as is. It'll free up some space," Neela told Eliana. Eliana shrugged and smiled, sitting on the bed next to Neela.

"Sure! Whatever you think is best Neela," Eliana told her. "But if you ever get cold at night, you can always come snuggle with me." Neela swallowed hard and nodded slowly, returning with a sheepish smile.

"I'll keep that in mind," Neela told her. Neela and Eliana sat in silence for a moment before a knock on the door interrupted it. "Come in!" The door swung open and Titus and Ilia stepped back in, Titus biting his lip as Ilia gave him a stern look.

"What did we decide on?" Titus asked trying to keep his cool. Ilia slid her foot back and he stepped out from behind her to avoid her landing another easy attack. "Just so we can get this taken care of."

"Elli and I will do a bunk bed and the two of you can arrange your beds accordingly," Neela told them. Ilia nodded in approval but noticed that Titus was lost in thought.

"What is it?" Ilia asked him. He smirked.

"The three of you have really similar names," he told her. He grabbed his suitcase up off of the floor and threw it onto one of the beds, claiming it as his own. "It'll be a great time not messing them up." Ilia raised her eyebrow and shook her head.

"You'll be fine," she told him. "We can finish this later. Let's go meet up with CBLT for pizza." Eliana leapt up and pulled Neela to her feet as well.

"Let's go!" Eliana exclaimed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Fun fact. When we began the story, it wasn't until a few days before writing began that we noted the fact that Ilia, Neela, and Eliana sounded pretty similar. At one point I wanted to name Ilia "Iliana" but it was changed for obvious reasons. We'd also planned to have a running gag where Titus constantly blended their names together but it was scrapped as it slipped my mind once we'd reached this part of the story.
> 
> Next week we see just how Remnant is doing as a whole in Chapter 15 - Remnant Peace Council!
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	19. Remnant Peace Council

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Remnant Peace Council gathers in Atlas to report on the current state of each Kingdom.

"To be honest ma'am, with the exception of the fact that it is brutally cold this far north, the only other thing that I have a hard time enjoying is when the meetings are held here. I understand that the meetings are held once every two weeks and that the location is chosen at random so that there can't be an attack of any kind on the council, but Atlas is just too far overboard on their security measures. The first time that I came here after you appointed me and I had arrived late and separate from you, I was almost arrested because I wasn't yet in the system, and no one other than council members are supposed to know how to get in. It's a good thing that you had decided to pick up your scroll that day or else I most likely would not have never made it out of their prison and you'd already had to have looked for a new notary.

Is notary my official title ma'am? I realize that we've only… I mean, I… Have only gone to about five or six of these, but never once have I had to notarize anything. I'm more of a fill-in, correct? You're the head of the Vacuo government, but sometimes they refer to the others in my position as a spokesperson. I don't feel as though that accurately describes the position either though. I'm only a spokesperson for you when you aren't present. Why do I have to be here when you're here also? It would be just as easy if the council could send out a newsletter or memo of sorts, I read my email on a regular basis.

Or is there fear that there may be a cyber attack in the near future? The council could easily set up their own secure network if they really wanted to, so why wouldn't they make it easier on all of us? Think of all of the travel fees that could be avoided if we simply set up a nice video conference call. We even have the technology for holograms. We could be doing this from the comfort of our living rooms. I wouldn't have had to get on an airship yesterday, and I could have enjoyed a nice bowl of oatmeal with my wife Reese this morning. It more likely would have been fruit, but oatmeal sounds great right about now since I can't feel my hands. You would think that they would have the hand scanner as the last security measure, not the first one that's located outside," the man complained as the second set of doors opened after the ocular scan was completed by the security panel.

"Dorian," the woman that was with him spoke. His eyes were purple, which complemented the teal color of his hair, that was spiked just so, and he wore a tuxedo with a gold vest and matching tie. The suit hung open and he reached in, pulling out a pocket watch with a chain. He looked at the time, snapping it shut and placing it back into his pocket. "Do you ever stop talking? Or worrying for that matter? You've already checked that watch three times now and we aren't even halfway through security."

"If I'm going to be forced to have to leave the house and accompany you to council meetings, I would just prefer that you aren't late, that's all," he explained to her as they approached the guards that were blocking the next door.

"State your name," one of the Atlesian Militiamen requested.

"Dorian Bradbury," he said as he handed over his ID. The Atlesian looked it over and handed it back, nodding to the woman.

"Ma'am?" She chuckled.

"Olesia Lychnítis," she replied handing him her own identification. He looked her over for a moment and then looked back at her card.

Her hair was an intense red color with a dark purple hue in a reverse bob with bangs that were swept to the right side, partially covering her right eye as she flipped it back out of her face. Her grey eyes caught the guard in a trance as she pursed her dark red lips together, opening them slightly to smile at him. She wore a white professional top with a plunging V-neck, her average bust covered by a black tank top with subtle lace detailing along the hem. Her matching white business dress came down and stopped just above her knees.

"I would think by now you would remember what I look like Albus." The man chuckled before giving it back to her and opening the door for the two of them.

"I always look forward to seeing you Olesia. Orders are orders though," he replied. She smiled at him and nodded.

"I understand. Thank you," she replied. They headed down one last corridor, the floor made of a white marble that was shined to perfection, Dorian presumed that they must have polished the entire building that morning or the night before, just so that it would look perfect for all of the leaders arriving from the other kingdoms. He scoffed as they finally reached the last set of doors where the guards held out buckets to both of them.

"Weapons?" The one closer to Dorian asked. He handed over his pocket watch and Olesia felt herself over before shrugging.

"I must not have brought them with me today. You boys can feel free to pat me down unless you're comfortable just taking the metal detectors word for it," she told them. They both blushed and looked at each other shaking their heads.

"It's quite alright ma'am, go ahead," the other instructed her. She smiled at both of them and she stepped past them with Dorian into the massive meeting room as the doors closed behind them. Dorian leaned over to her.

"Did you really forget your weapons?" He asked. "Aren't they aware of the fact that you're a technopath?" She put a finger to his lips, effectively silencing him as she waved to the other members.

"You think that I would come to one of these meetings without bringing my weapons? I realize that we're meant to be a peace council, but one can never be too cautious," she informed him.

The council meeting room was deep underground, in a location that was only known to the same guards that were assigned to it during each meeting they had, and the members of the council themselves. This meant that there were no windows, and the room had to be lit with any artificial lighting that they could come up with. Seeing how the head of the council was married to the richest woman in all of Remnant, the Atlas meeting room was far superior in every way to the others. It had a large chandelier that was made of diamond and other crystals, the light from it was enough to illuminate every last inch of the room. The floor was made of white marble, similar to what was in the hall from before, and in the middle of the room, the Atlas Emblem was painted in such a way that it spanned the bunker. The walls were made of some sort of futuristic paneling that would absorb sound and nullify any Dust in the room, making it impossible to smuggle any inside, and making it impractical to eavesdrop from the outside.

The large wooden table ran the length of the round room, set up in such a way that whoever wanted to speak would stand in the middle of the room as the others watched and listened. When Olesia Lychnítis had been chosen for the job a few years ago, she was the youngest member that had been appointed to an executive title of any kingdom in the history of Remnant, and one of the few Faunus to also be given such an honor. The kingdoms were seated Vacuo, Vale, Atlas, and Mistral from left to right, and Dorian extended his hand, gesturing for Olesia to take her seat. She nodded at him in agreement and they moved directly towards their seats as a woman on the opposite end of the table stood.

"Well, if it isn't the little bunny Faunus of Vacuo. I have to ask you, do you have to have all of your clothes specially tailored due to that bushy little tail of yours?" The woman asked with a crooked grin on her face. Her hair was silver, swept to the left, with a black hair band that helped bring the pixie cut together. On the band was the Mistral Emblem, navy blue in color. Her eyes with brown, but intense, doing their best to cut the young girl down. Her motif was complete with a navy blue pantsuit, the top left unbuttoned and the tank top underneath similar to Olesia's despite being the same silver color as this woman's hair, and with more bust to cover.

"Siobhan Silver, how nice of you to join us today. I'm not sure if this cold brings out the ice in your soul even more, or if it just accentuates it better," Olesia replied as she sat at her spot across the room, Dorian sitting beside her and setting up a laptop, checking his scroll over for any messages that he might have missed that morning. "I'm leading an entire kingdom. If you think that making fun of my tail is going to drive me off, you are sorely mistaken. Where is your executive today? I don't think you could blame him if he was trying to avoid you. Maybe that's why he's always so late…" The doors swung open interrupting them, Olesia and Siobhan's eyes lit up as Mistral's leader entered the room.

"You're not entirely wrong," Sterling spoke. Sterling Stratford, easily one of the most successful men to ever run a kingdom, or at least bring it to power and continue to raise that power to new levels. Much like when Ironwood had first taken over the Atlesian Army, the only goal that Sterling could see at the moment was a world where his kingdom could live in complete peace by simply intimidating their enemies out of attacking. It wasn't bad in theory, and while most of Remnant felt that perhaps he had gone a touch overboard, the council respected him and were impressed by what he brought to the table each meeting. Sterling smirked as he let the doors slammed closed behind him. "I also stopped for coffee on the way in."

He was a bigger man, not one that anyone would ever plan on going toe to toe with unless that man was Ironwood or another powerhouse. He was handsome too, his smile contagious as he flashed it to each of the women that were arguing. Siobhan beamed for a long moment in the bliss that Sterling seemed to bring but Olesia averted her eyes and blushed slightly. He was easily five years older than she was, but no one could deny the fact that the man had an overabundance of sex appeal. He had a strong jaw to match his smile and Olesia shuffled through her papers, glancing up as he prepared to sit. There was more to him.

His hair was silver like Siobhan's, cut short, but spiked at his bangs. He had icy blue eyes that pierced through everyone that he looked at. He wore a light, dark grey button-up shirt with his sleeves rolled up and black khakis. He sat and adjusted his chair, leaning in to listen to something from Siobhan, but never once taking his eyes off of Olesia.

"You want me to do something about his staring, because if anything, it's starting to creep me out," Dorian told her as he took a moment to look up from his work and acknowledge Sterling. "Self-entitled prick just thinks he's better than everyone else because he raised an army to match that of Atlas in five years flat." Olesia reached over and hit him in the arm. "What?!"

"Alright already, you made your point," Olesia told him shaking her head and rolling her eyes. Qrow sat beside Winter in the middle of the table, both of them acting as spokespersons for the leaders of Vale and Atlas respectively. Qrow stood, clearing his throat and drawing the attention of everyone in the room. He smirked as he looked down at Winter and then back out at the other four.

"I think we're ready to start then," Qrow announced. "Ruby took the day off today and Jimmy won't be able to make it due to a cold, so it looks like Winter and I will just have to represent our executives' opinions. I don't think we really need to go through all of the trouble of roll call, so let's just get down to business, shall we? I hate that we always start at the end of the table you're on Olesia, but why don't you tell us how things are faring over in your kingdom? Please wait until Olesia is completely through with her report before asking any questions or adding anything else that you feel needs to be addressed." Qrow nodded to her and sat. "You're up sweetheart."

"Good afternoon everyone," Olesia stated as she stood up and Dorian slid a stack of paper in front of her. She looked down at them for a moment before lifting them and eying them over. She moved to the middle of the table, slowly turning to meet each of their eyes as she spoke. "Currently things are going well in the Kingdom of Vacuo. The Capital's crime rate is lower than it's ever been, and we're about to begin breaking ground on the expansion around Shade Academy. Due to the fact that we haven't had any scares and bandit factions have been fairly scarce around the school, we should have no problems with extending our livable territory and maintaining it for many years if not decades to come. I expect this permanent extension of the school and city to be finished no later than 2 years from now." Siobhan stood and cleared her throat, staring directly at Olesia as a smile tugged gently at her lips.

"What about Strakh?" She asked. Dorian shifted in his seat, distracting Olesia for a moment before returning Siobhan's gaze.

"What about him?" Olesia asked with her teeth gritted. Siobhan shook her head and chuckled.

"I would think that he should soon become your primary concern, considering the fact that if crime is at an all-time low as you've just told us, he would be the one thing that's standing between you and near perfection. Imagine the capital of Vacuo being completely crime free. It sounds impossible, but everything comes to a head at Mr. Temnota and if I'm not mistaken, he recently acquired a few assets from the Vacuo Military somehow. Not to mention he is continually robbing the Schnee Dust Company reserves in the area, is he not?" Siobhan asked. Olesia cringed at every accusation and Dorian stood up behind her, pointing across the room at Sterling.

"How would you know any of that if you didn't have spies or informants within our government? We have done nothing but be trustworthy to this entire council, why is it that Olesia is being singled out? Doesn't fit in with the rest of you? Preying on her because she's the weakest, solely due to the fact that she has the least experience out of all of us? Qrow, you are here representing Mrs. Rose, please do something about this." Qrow shifted in his chair as he sat up straight, cracking his back and looking out at the three of them.

"Without proof, there's nothing that can be done about the ordeal. And even then it would take a bit of red tape and other paperwork to get anything done after the fact. There's no evidence of sabotage, and if anything, Mistral could sign a pact with Vacuo right now. It could be in Vacuo's best interest to allow one of the best militaries in Remnant to assist them in taking down Strakh," Qrow told them. "Even if I could do something about it, Ruby used her executive powers during our last meeting meaning that we can't override any decisions for quite some time." He turned his attention to Sterling as Siobhan and Dorian both sat. "Why do you have men in Vacuo?"

"I have men in Vacuo for the same reason that Atlas had its military in Vale before and now in Mistral. A threat has been detected and we have decided that the best way to take care of this threat is by offering our support. Besides, everything that we accounted just now was merely the witnessing of someone who is in my military that was riding a train back from Vacuo to Vale. There was no spying or espionage to be made note of. Simply a concerned official who thought that the government of Vacuo might want it brought to their attention. I know that Atlas is in my kingdom right now. I don't know why, but I assume that it's for good reason and once they find out more, they'll let me know. Isn't that right Winter?" Sterling told them. Qrow looked at Winter who avoided eye contact.

"Winter?" Qrow inquired.

"I would like to use my kingdom's executive override at this point. Our investigation has not been completed and saying anything regarding it would compromise the integrity of the information," she told them. She looked at Sterling who smiled at her. "It's nothing personal, just business." He nodded.

"I understand completely Mrs. Branwen. I commend you as well. Though sometimes we may not make the best decisions regarding our military resources, we both do it under the pretense that it's going to make our kingdom, and Remnant as a whole, a better place." Sterling turned his attention back to Olesia. "Our question still stands, however, and I think that Mr. Branwen will agree. Strakh Temnota is not someone that we can just ignore, and Strakh Dust is a threat now more than ever. If he has military assets, as well as that much Dust, it's really hard to say what he might do next. It's for this same reason that we've put Mercury Black and his group of vagabonds back on our radar. What does he need with so much lien? Aside from the obvious, of course, but we all know how Mr. Black has operated in the past. There's always someone else running the show."

"At this time, Vacuo is not able to maintain the situation with Strakh," Olesia admitted sounding defeated. Dorian stood but she shot him a menacing glare and he sat back down immediately. She wanted to show this council that she could be powerful as well. She didn't need to rely on others to always save her if she was in a tight spot or undesirable situation. "With his growing manpower and weaponry, we just don't stand a chance. Vacuo is still developing, which has largely been delayed for many decades due to the fact that most of my kingdom is a desert. Once we have begun the expansion at Shade, I intend to focus my resources on capturing Strakh." Sterling sat back and nodded his head.

"Good," he replied. "Ms. Lychnítis, if you ever need any assistance, Mistral is more than happy to help." Winter stood and motioned for Olesia to move back to her seat.

"While we are on the topic of your military Sterling, why do you need so many men? There has been no indication of an attack from any of the other three kingdoms, and Salem's forces have long been dead or arrested. Her reign is over. There are no threats that should test the power that you have assembled," Winter told him. Sterling slowly stood and peered out at the entire council.

"When I took over the Kingdom of Mistral nearly 5 years ago at the ripe age of 23 years old, I was honestly terrified of the Atlas Army. We had all seen the images that had come from Vale just before the tower was destroyed and all that I saw was pain and suffering in the wake of an attack from the people that were meant to keep them safe. So I began building a force that would withstand Atlas if the need ever arose. Once things calmed and the kingdoms were once again connected, we realized that we were wrong, but we now had a force that would rival any army that could be thrown at us, whether it was Grimm, Salem's, or another governing body. We have no fear in Haven or any of the other large cities for that matter. We are flourishing and we wish only to help and support the other kingdoms.

My only fear at this point is that we would fall prone to another attack as Vale had. All of it could have prevented, and that's where I agree with the way that Atlas has always conducted itself. Security should be tightened in every moment and instance of everyday life. From paying for food to having guards posted on every street corner. I don't want the people of Mistral to feel like they can't live their everyday lives, I just want to make sure that they are absolutely protected. That is why we use minimal automated equipment. It's prone to hacking as the knights were during the fall of Beacon. So you might call it overkill, but I call it precautionary. Or are you going to try and tell me that you shouldn't have been in Vale during the fall?" Winter gritted her teeth.

"I think that we should have been, but I think we were more careless than we should have been," Winter told him.

"Trust me Winter, and everyone else here, good intentions will always have the possibility of leading to the wrong choice. I'm not saying that my army is perfect in any way, hell, I'm not even saying that it  **is**  what's best for my kingdom. What I am saying is this…" He locked eyes with Olesia. "I believe that my military will protect Remnant for many years to come, just as Atlas' has. Don't think of me as a rivaling force, think of me as an ally Winter. The Atlas army is strong, but we can be stronger together," he explained. He sat down. "Let's be realistic, shall we? All of our kingdoms have done things recently that they are ashamed of, but at the time thought it was for the best."

"So you're ashamed of your choice to keep your army this large?" Qrow asked. The two of them smiled coyly at each other.

"Putting words in my mouth?" Sterling asked. He chuckled. "It's quite alright, I was purely stating facts. Vacuo has Strakh, Vale has whatever secret is being held north of Mountain Glenn…" Qrow twitched slightly at the mentioning of the Mountain and Sterling stared him down. "I don't suppose you would like to share what is happening there?" Sterling could tell that Qrow's patience was running thin.

"Aren't we supposed to be working together?" Dorian asked. He stood. "We can point fingers and place blame all day long if we'd like, but I think we'd get more done if we decide what we can help each other with, and just leave private what needs to be left private." Siobhan glared at him.

"Privacy is why this council was formed in the first place. If Ozpin would have let the other kingdoms help him, Beacon wouldn't have fallen and Remnant wouldn't have been placed in such danger. We all knew that Salem was out there somewhere, but somehow Ozpin thought it would be better if he played his game with every life on the planet in the balance. This wasn't a game, this is reality. Ozpin should have been open and told more than just a select few what was going on. That's why we have the rules that we do now. The council is meant to keep that from happening again, and it doesn't hurt to keep the other kingdoms in check at the same time," Siobhan offered. "That's why we're limited to one override every 4 months."

"So much distrust," Qrow laughed under his breath. "Back in my day we simply lived without having all of these issues. The huntsmen and women did their jobs and that was enough to keep the kingdoms safe." Qrow stood as Dorian sat back down. "Let's keep this moving right along, shall we? I have nothing more to report other than the fact that we have apprehended one of the more prominent members of Mercury's crew and we are hoping that he'll reveal to us where Mercury is hiding." He sat down. He looked at the other members as they watched him for a moment.

"That's it?" Winter asked. Qrow pulled out his flask and took a sip.

"Yeah. What else does there need to be?" He asked. "And before you all ask, the guard let me bring it in." He looked at Winter sitting beside him. "You're up." Winter stood and cleared her throat.

"The restoration project out in Mantle will be beginning soon, which will restore nearly eighty percent of the old city. In order to do so, the military and government have sought out financial aid from the Schnee Dust Company. Weiss has informed me that in the next couple of weeks, mining will begin in the desert in Menagerie. The inhabitants of the island have already agreed to our terms and in exchange will receive an abundant supply of Dust that should keep them stocked for years to come. The money that's brought in from this project should be enough to cover the restoration costs, though if Strakh can be brought down in Vacuo, it would help even more," Winter informed them as she sat. "Sterling?"

"Make Strakh our number one priority starting next month," Olesia told Dorian as she leaned over and whispered into his ear. "If I have to hear his name one more time without being told that he's been captured or killed, it'll be too soon." Dorian nodded and made a note of it as Sterling stood once again, puffing his chest out slightly.

"My research and development team have designed something that we only could have dreamed of for many years, but now is a reality using a very special kind of technology," he told them. He nodded to the guard at the door who nodded back and opened the doors, two guards entering in with a small case and setting it on the table in front of Sterling. He opened it and removed a small black blade. He lifted it high for all of them to see and set it back down for a moment. "What would be the best and most ideal way to deal with the most dangerous threats that could be thrown at us? Imagine if we had a weapon that could circumvent an enemy's aura." Qrow slowly stood. Winter looked up at him, seeing the fear and concern in his eyes.

"You don't mean to tell me…" Sterling lifted his arm and swung the blade, passing through his aura and leaving a cut on his arm that bled, refusing to heal right away. "Sterling…"

"Imagine the number of threats that we could instantly eliminate!" Sterling proclaimed. "The blade or ammo if that was the route one wanted to take, is made of a metal Dust alloy that has a similar signature to aura. It simply passes through and because your aura thinks the object is similar enough to its own self, it doesn't defend!"

"No," Qrow said. Sterling looked at him.

"No?" He asked. Qrow shook his head.

"It's too dangerous. Imagine if that fell into the wrong hands. Hell, if Olesia loaded it into her weapon, she could kill all of us without blinking an eye," Qrow explained. He looked at her. "As an example." She nodded, she knew he meant nothing by it. "Perhaps someday Sterling if we have no other choice, but for now, this technology needs to be kept locked up." Sterling looked at the cut on his arm and then back at the blade as he placed it back into the box. He looked at the two men and waved them off as they left the room with the case, closing the doors behind them. "Sterling, you have to understand…"

"You're right Qrow," Sterling said solemnly. "As much as I realize its value as an advantage, I overlooked the fact that in the wrong hands, it would cause disasters that even I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for." Sterling sat. "Thank you Qrow." Qrow smirked and nodded. Maybe Sterling wasn't as full of hot air as he had thought in the past. "That's all that I have to present at this meeting."

"That should be it then. A little shorter than usual, but I think all of us would like to keep these to the point and get back home to our loved ones. As per usual, you will receive a message on your scroll by the end of the week letting you know where the next meeting is going to be. Vacuo, let's get a plan for catching Strakh thought up. I'd like to have that issue taken care by the end of next year if possible. Vale will continue to work on capturing Mercury Black and I will work with Ruby to have information prepared on the Faunus Protest that occurred during the Fall Festival. Atlas, keep us updated on SDC's activity in Menagerie, we need things to go peacefully there. Mistral…" Qrow thought it over for a moment. "If Vacuo doesn't have a plan in place at our next meeting, I'll move to allow you to assist Olesia in taking down Strakh. But please hold off on making those aura weapons." Sterling nodded. "Dismissed!"

* * *

Crimson watched as the Geist was destroyed one last time on the video that she had managed to take and moved away from the cliff to avoid being spotted as she made her way back to the river that would take her to the waterfall. She clenched her teeth and smiled as she spotted the mask that had been left the night before and picked it up, preparing to chuck it far into the ocean as she reached the edge of Beacon's boundary. It had been all too easy to frame Hunter, and she knew that Athena wouldn't suspect her for a second. Ever since the day that Athena had spared her, Crimson had been at it. She was secretly working in Athena's favor, choosing the weakest in the clan and making sure that Athena had a valid reason for killing them off.

She was the one who had suggested most of Joseph's previous students, knowing that they looked good enough that he'd be willing to train them, but well aware that they would never be able to pass Athena's final test. She had killed countless others and made it look like the work of Grimm. Hunter's downfall was easy enough to stage, she knew that Athena wouldn't be around as they finished their preparations, and so when he forgot his mask, she took it upon herself to bring it with them and leave it in the forest. His story would have checked out, but now if Athena decided to validate it, his headgear would be nowhere to be found. It was too easy.

What had made her night even better was the fact that when they had reached the Emerald Forest to release the Geist from its containment unit they had run into a Prime Beringel, an act of Salem no doubt as Beringels weren't known for being in Vale too often. It killed several of the others that had come with, making Hunter look like even more of a coward when he fled, and proving that the others were weak as well. There was no room in Athena's clan for such Faunus. What if they had been protecting Athena, and she had died under their watch? No, weakness would not be tolerated, and Crimson would take the most extreme measures if it meant keeping her goddess safe. That's all that mattered to her now.

Her story was hardly one that anyone could consider tragic, sad things happened all the time in Remnant. Her parents had brought her to the White Fang, hoping to find a good place for her where she would be away from other people and Faunus. Why had they hated her so? Did they really think that she was a monster like everyone else? Before her parents could leave the camp, they were approached by Athena, who told them that they either needed to join or die, as they had been brought to one of the most secret camps by 'mistake', and if they were refusing to join, they couldn't be allowed to live. They refused.

It was the moment that caused Crimson to snap and she struck down both of her parents in a rage, she couldn't tolerate the fact that they could be so cowardly, and she knew then that they didn't deserve to live. If they weren't with the Fang, then surely they were against it, and that meant that they were against her. That's when the incident happened. Crimson didn't remember any of the details afterward, she had blacked out after killing her father, and when she came to, she was standing over Athena with the blade she had been given, Athena blocking her attack with Wither. Crimson trembled in fear as she noted the bodies that were lying dead around her, easily fifteen members and both of her parents. She was covered in blood from head to toe.

She was a new member of the White Fang, and she had tried to strike down their new leader, she deserved nothing more than death. Instead of killing her, Athena sheathed her blade and thanked her. Athena told her that Crimson was what she had been looking for for so long. She needed someone strong to walk beside her as she made the tough decisions of watching over the new Fang and showing her love to them by killing the weak. It wasn't that Athena hated the weak, she loved them too. For the sake of the whole, however, sacrifices had to be made on occasion. Crimson understood that.

From that point on, Crimson had been by Athena's side at every possible moment. To say that it was love was a massive understatement because Crimson didn't just want to be with Athena, she wanted to be Athena. It was that desire that drove her to make sure that Athena realized the full potential of her plans. It was the same reason that she sent the students that were too weak to be Athena's apprentice to fight the goddess. She knew what her mistress ultimately intended for the apprentice, and it was the only thing that Crimson wanted worse than Athena. The world was yet unaware of Athena's power, but they would know soon enough. Her plan would be put into motion soon.

Her scroll rang and she answered it as she reached the edge of the cliff, peering down at the waterfall as it met the water below, thundering against the bottom of the side of the bluff. She answered, clearing her throat so that she sounded more upbeat, and less dead set on ill intent.

"Athena is wondering how the initiation went," Joseph's voice asked her, sounding slightly annoyed as she chuckled and looked at her nails. She peered towards the school to make sure that no one was heading her way and stepped into the river, letting the water wash over her feet. She shuddered slightly, the autumn air had given the water quite a chill, but it helped wake her up and make her more alert, so she didn't mind, though her patience would shortly run out if the pilot didn't show up soon.

"Athena was wondering? Or were you wondering Joseph? Athena has been at this much longer than either of us, but even I know that we won't be able to find out the placement of the students for the first couple of days. However, if you really are reporting back to her right now as you say you are, let her know that the Geist was taken down without a single casualty. I'll give her the rest of the details that she wants when I arrive. I know that she'll want to see me," Crimson told him. She could hear the contempt and sly smile on his face as he laughed into the scroll.

"I'm surprised that you didn't ask me which one of your choices I'll be taking under my wing next," Joseph told her. The airship came into view and Crimson took a running start, leaping off of the cliffside and into the ship as it maneuvered slightly to ensure that she wouldn't be harmed and flew away. "It might interest you to know that all of your lovely students will be spared this time, meaning they'll have even more time to become stronger." Crimson was overcome with intrigue at his words, wondering what he was really getting at. Who would he have chosen instead? She knew that no one else in the village was capable of being strong enough for her mistress, so Crimson was sure that this one would fail as well and Athena would have no choice but to finally choose her as the one.

"I think that all of the clan members on my list will greatly appreciate the service that you've done them by choosing someone that you see more fit for the job, but rest assured Joseph, I have only picked the best of the best from our village for your consideration. It's not that I'm trying to undermine your authority, we're mostly on the same level, I just don't follow your logic," she told him. She laughed to herself. It wasn't completely true. Yes, in the eyes of the village and the others in the clan and the Fang, they were both equal in rank, but Athena had never come to Joseph when she needed pleasuring. "Perhaps if you explain it to me I can give you my honest opinion and assessment of the individual and we can work from there."

"Are you familiar with the Branwen Clan?" He asked. She froze for a moment as her eyes twitched, staring out at Patch as it disappeared on the horizon, the airship finally heading inland and towards the woods where the village was located. Everyone who belonged to the Fang or had ever traveled east of Vale was well aware of the Branwen Clan. A group of extreme and ruthless bandits that robbed towns and cities, before unleashing an ultimate power upon them and burning what remained to the ground. It was said that just a look from Raven Branwen could freeze the most esteemed and talented huntsmen and huntresses, leaving them paralyzed and helpless to her attacks. "I'll take your prolonged silence as a yes. They've been trying to eliminate us in Mistral for a long time. They're powerful, but it seems as though they were caught off guard this time."

"What are you saying?" Crimson asked him.

"They've been disbanded as of a few weeks ago, they're no longer a threat to us. They took a heavy loss when they attempted to attack a village on the outskirts of Haven, the Mistral Military struck them down, wiping out the majority of them. The death toll was too severe and they fled, Raven was unable to rally them. Now she's wandering around by herself, wondering what to do now that she has no one left and has allowed her family to completely alienate her. Some of her Faunus followers have come to us in search of refuge," Joseph explained. Crimson's eyes grew wide as she sat down and stared at her free hand, it trembled as she looked it over slowly. He had found someone from the Branwen Clan to train as Athena's apprentice. The thought humbled her slightly but pissed her off also.

"Who is this Faunus so that I might properly greet them when I arrive?" Crimson asked. If Crimson needed to, she would strike them down long before Athena could even learn of their existence. She knew that Joseph was sneering on the other end of the line and she balled her fists, her scroll cracking slightly.

"I'd like to keep that a secret until our Excellency has had a chance to meet her," Joseph replied. "I think that's fair, don't you?" Crimson hung up on him and threw the scroll against the wall, watching it shatter and parts of glass and plastic scatter across the floor. She took a deep breath in and out, wondering if she was lucky, perhaps she would hyperventilate and Athena would perhaps come to check on her. Joseph had done the one and only thing that could possibly ruin her plan, and she could do nothing about it but hope that Athena won against this new pupil as she always did. If that failed, perhaps Crimson would have to stage another accident. Only time would tell now. After an hour or so, she arrived.

She stepped off of the airship as it touched down and rushed to the temple where she knew well that she would find Athena at midday. She needed to have a conversation immediately with her mistress about her feelings towards allowing Branwen Clan members to join the Fang. She quietly entered the building and knelt beside Athena who was bowing to a shrine to her brother. The shrine included his mask and jacket, and a picture of him when he was much younger. Incense filled the air and slowly toyed with Crimson's mind as she inhaled deeply and remained silent as she waited for Athena to finish paying her respects. She came here every day, making sure that she never lost sight of what was most important. Her brother and father were the only ones that she felt had truly and deeply loved her, and one of them had been taken from her by Yang Xiao Long and former Fang member Blake Belladonna.

Athena sighed as she slowly stood and helped Crimson to her feet, slowly padding along to her throne, and draping herself over it as Crimson knelt before her. She avoided eye contact until Athena finally smirked, clearing her throat.

"Crimson. I trust that you have good news for me," Athena told her. "You may stand." Crimson nodded and stood slowly, looking her mistress in the eyes, avoiding seeming overjoyed, but melting inside. Athena treated her the same as everyone else, with a few exceptions, so why did such simple moments that everyone else surely shared with her drive her crazy? Crimson was completely and utterly infatuated with the woman, but she knew that their relationship would never truly be what she wanted it to be.

"I do Mistress. It would seem that the students were able to dispatch the Geist. They are a remarkable group this year. More so than the last couple of years, seeing as I watched the battles first hand. Absolutely incredible, perhaps the greatest class to attend Beacon since RWBY and JNPR. I think you're familiar with that group if I'm not mistaken," Crimson pointed out. Athena gritted her teeth and shifted on her throne.

"I am," Athena told her. She looked her handmaiden over and smiled. "What about Neela?"

"She's strong. If you wanted to get back at the Xiao Long family, I would advise against fighting the girl." Crimson told her. Athena chuckled.

"You think that she is stronger than I am," Athena asked. Crimson looked away. Athena stood and walked to Crimson, grabbing her by the jaw and forcing her to look at her goddess. "Then what would you suggest for me to get my revenge? What else can I possibly do to get back at them?"

"Once we find out who has been assigned to her team, we find the one who is the weakest and have them execute our back up plan," Crimson explained. Athena shoved her away and smirked as Crimson fell to the ground, trembling at the idea of Athena attacking her in a fit of displeasure.

"It could work," Athena spoke. She returned to her throne as Crimson stood and brushed herself off. "Very well. Is there anything else that you'd like to tell me before you excuse yourself from my presence? I need some time to meditate today before I head out for training." Crimson was impressed by Athena's current level of dedication to their cause. It had been a long time since Athena had left the village, and even longer since she had gone to train with her father. Crimson swallowed hard and looked at her mistress.

"Are you sure that it is in our best interest to allow members of Raven's Clan to join us? I have no problems with them joining the Fang as a whole, but are we sure that our sect is the best fit for these vagabonds?" Crimson inquired. A flame flared in Athena's eyes as she stared Crimson down, her mouth twisting into a sickening but amused grin.

"You don't trust my judgment?" Athena asked. Before Crimson could move, Athena had moved to her instantly and Crimson reached down for her rod, only to find that it wasn't there. Athena must have used her semblance to switch places with it and her sword lashed out, stopping inches from Crimson's torso. "I would be careful if I were you and choose your next few words wisely." Crimson's body shook as her eyes narrowed. Why couldn't Athena see that she was trying to protect her?

"What if Raven comes here?" Crimson asked. Athena gave an amused grunt and sheathed her sword.

"Then I shall strike her down." Athena reached her throne and picked up Crimson's weapon off of it, tossing it to her. "I will be back in a couple of weeks. Watch over the village until then, and tell Joseph to make sure that he has a new apprentice lined up for me by then." Crimson nodded as she reattached the rod to her hip and left the temple. Their meeting hadn't gone as she had hoped, but she had faith in the fact that this student would fail like the rest.

* * *

Blake moved to the kitchen as she sent Shadow with Yang to be tucked into bed after kissing her goodnight and watching her run off giggling, Yang chasing after her and sweeping her off of her feet, carrying her into her bedroom. Blake took a deep breath and sighed as she began to collect the dishes off of the table and noted the spot that should have been Neela's was empty. In the past, while Neela had still been attending Signal, Yang and Blake would make the trip back to Patch every night, picking up Shadow from Taiyang's 'Day Care' of sorts that he had opened, mainly for the teachers' children, after he had retired. This year, however, they were staying at the staff apartments that had been built on the campus, so that the teachers wouldn't have to travel back and forth between Vale every morning and night. Blake still felt emotional, it was their first night together as a family having dinner without Neela there. She sat down for a moment in Neela's spot and took a deep breath in as something caught in her chest and forced her to pause. The little girl that they had raised was on her own now. It was for the best. Even so, despite the fact that Blake had seen her several times that day, she missed her little girl.

She spotted Yang returning to the kitchen through her glossy eyes and sniffed, wiping her tears away quickly with her dish towel and moving back to the sink, turning the water on and letting it run until it was just the right temperature. Yang took the towel from her and set it on the counter, looking at Blake while leaning against the cabinets. She sighed and did her best to smile, but Yang was missing their little hawk as much as Blake was, though she was doing her best not to show it. Normally Neela would help Blake with the dishes after dinner was over, but this was the first night she had been gone. She had gone on sleepovers and stayed with Taiyang on occasion, but this time it felt different.

"It's going to be hard for a little while, isn't it?" Blake asked. Yang nodded.

"I suppose it is," Yang replied. Blake nodded slowly as she turned off the water and began washing the dishes, Yang drying them after they were rinsed off. "Something else bugging you?" Blake cast a sideways glance at Yang and shrugged.

"With this talk about these relics, I'm just worried. I know that we can handle something like that, but what if they decide to go after Neela or Shadow? I don't know if I can handle something like that," Blake explained. Yang looked hard at the bottom of the glass she was putting away and thought for a long moment.

"Neela will be fine. As for Shadow, she's always safe with us and during the day when she's with dad, she's fine too. We'll get Orion to talk, then we'll find the relics and it'll all be taken care of, no need to worry," Yang reassured her with a smile. Blake smiled back and concentrated on the plate in her hand.

"You're probably right," Blake replied.

"Of course I am!" Yang exclaimed. Blake laughed. "Now, what was it that you were telling me last night when you came home?" Blake laughed again and handed Yang some silverware.

"I busted Neela and Elli after they had snuck out of the Great Hall, but Elli was dead set on trying to convince me that they had been making out in the boiler room!" Blake blurted out. Yang's eyes widened for a moment. She was unsure of how to respond.

"Are you serious?" Yang asked. Blake nodded. "Do you really think that they were?" Blake shook her head.

"Elli's story was convincing enough, but the look of horror on Neela's face suggested otherwise. That wasn't the look of a girl coming down from the euphoria of a kiss. It was the look of a girl who was trying her hardest not to think of what it would actually be like if it happened." Yang laughed as she shook her head and put away some bowls. "I still remember our first kiss."

"I'm surprised by that, to be honest. You must have been terrified!" Yang exclaimed.

"I was sure that you were pissed that I left, but I knew that you would never hurt me." Blake explained. She sighed thinking about it and then thinking about Neela and Eliana. "I just wonder if Neela will be able to work up the courage before someone else steps in and steals Elli's heart."

"I worry about that too." Yang set down the towel and stretched, groaning slightly. "It's so hard to say. If only Elli showed any interest at all in pursuing a relationship. Not much that we can do about it now. This has to be something that the two of them manage to work out." She walked to the table and sat in one of the chairs, leaning back and yawning. "Classes start tomorrow for the first years. We should probably get to sleep pretty soon here." Blake nodded in agreement.

"I can only imagine what this year has in store for us," Blake told Yang as she drained the water. Yang smirked.

"Or Team NITE." Blake walked over to Yang and sat on her lap, wrapping her legs around her and kissing her. "And hey, don't worry, Neela will still have dinner with us on the weekends." Blake chuckled. She hoped so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After some behind the scenes, we'll return to NITE next week and see how the team is doing in Chapter 16 - Study Hall!
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	20. Study Hall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Titus just wants a quiet place to study but finding one might be harder than he thinks.

"Well, it has been three weeks since we've been assigned our teams, and I for one have been dying to ask you something since day one," Cobalt told Titus as Lykos sat down beside him with his tray. They glanced over at the girls who had chosen a table on the other side of the cafeteria, they laughed and waved as the boys spotted them. "What is it like rooming with three of the hottest first years? It either has to be heaven or hell, right? I know that you don't get along with Neela the best necessarily, but I feel like there could be something between you and Ilia, and Eliana is kind of cute in an uber naïve sort of way. So, what's it like?" Titus looked up for a moment from his school work and glanced over at Lykos who shook his head.

"You curious too?" Titus asked Lykos. Lykos wiped his mouth the clear away the excess sauce that the pasta had left around his lips.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I couldn't care less," Lykos said. Cobalt glared at Lykos for a moment.

"Thanks for the help," Cobalt told him sarcastically. Lykos forced a smile before returning to his meal.

"It's okay. It's been more of a hindrance than anything if you ask me," Titus explained. "They were having a pillow fight in their pajamas the other night. Makes it kind of difficult to study, especially when they're trying to recruit me so that each side has two members. I usually leave when they get unruly. Not to mention, Ilia knows that there's nothing between the two of us, so she typically comes out of the bathroom in nothing but her underwear, expecting to get a rise out of me, no pun intended. Don't get me wrong, she's very attractive, but studying is far more important." Cobalt stared at Titus who looked up from his homework. Cobalt's jaw was slightly slacked and Lykos had stopped eating for a moment.

"I hate you," Cobalt said plainly. Titus shrugged and returned to his work as Lykos shook his head again. "I mean, Lykos over there is the very definition of chivalry towards Bái, but even he can see that you're clearly out of your mind. What are you even working on?"

"Did you really see Ilia in her underwear?" Lykos asked.

"Grimm Studies, and yes," Titus replied still engrossed.

"Color and style?" Cobalt asked.

"She'd most certainly kill him if he told us that," Lykos replied.

"Yes she would," Titus agreed. Cobalt chuckled as he took a swig of his milk.

"Can't blame a guy for trying. I might be great in the leader role when the situation calls for it, but I'm just walking hormones the rest of the time." Cobalt protested. He watched the women for a long moment and sat in silence with the exception of Titus' pen strokes and the sound of Lykos chewing. "So, are Neela and Eliana a thing?"

"No," Titus replied without giving it a second thought.

"But Neela has a thing for Eliana, right?" Cobalt pried.

"I sat over here so that I could get some schoolwork done, but you almost talk as much as the women, Cobalt," Titus grumbled. Lykos looked back over his shoulder towards the girls' table and nodded.

"Yes she does," Lykos replied to Cobalt.

"Everybody knows but Eliana, don't they?" Cobalt asked. Lykos took a large bite of his pasta and nodded. "So strange…" Titus collected up his books and assignments and walked away. "Titus?"

"I need to get some work done Cobalt, I already said that!" Titus called back.

"What do you think the guys are talking about over there?" Ilia asked as she finished her milk. She turned away from the table and tossed the carton, watching as it flew into the trash can.

"Probably our boobs," Tawney offered. "More likely Elli's boobs. She has the biggest rack out of the five of us." Neela's eye twitched as she watched Tawney who was staring longingly at Eliana for more than a few moments. Neela wondered if her body was shaking as hard as she imagined it was. Tawney had made it overly apparent that she planned on challenging Neela at everything, but thinking that she could get Eliana to choose her over Neela was a mistake, and wasn't something that she could defeat her at. Neela kept herself from reaching across the table and choking Tawney to death, but it was one of the hardest moments of self-control that she had ever experienced.

"Lykos-kun would never talk about such lewd things!" Bái exclaimed before blushing and looking back down at her plate.

"I doubt that Titus is either. He's never shown any interest in mine, and he's seen them plenty," Ilia told them. They all stopped eating for a moment and looked at her and she met their glances. "What?"

"You want him that badly?" Eliana asked.

"No, just trying to pick his brain. When he said that he was going to focus on schooling, he wasn't kidding, but he needs to let loose every now and then," Ilia told them.

"With you?" Tawney asked raising an eyebrow. Ilia cracked a grin and shook her head.

"No. I didn't even mean sex necessarily, but that poor guy is going to work himself into the ground," Ilia explained. Neela smirked.

"I get the sneaking suspicion that you've got a thing for Titus," Neela said. Ilia blushed slightly.

"Nah. He's not interested and it's probably best I date someone outside the team," Ilia said. Ilia sighed and looked at her scroll. "The Grimm Studies exam starts in a little over an hour. Anyone want to go study with me in the meantime?" Tawney and Neela stood.

"I could use a little extra studying," Neela told Ilia as she stood also.

"I have to score higher than Neela, so count me in," Tawney said. Neela glowered at her.

"There's just no end to this with you, is there?" Neela asked.

"I have to be better than you Neela. I have to maintain my dignity… Not to mention it's the only way that I can graduate at the top of the class," Tawney explained. "Let's head to the library." Tawney looked at the other two girls. "Are you two coming?" Eliana shook her head.

"I'll stay here with Bái for now. I don't have Grimm Studies this semester," Eliana explained. Bái nodded.

"I don't either,' Bái replied. Tawney smirked and walked away with Neela and Ilia, leaving the other two girls behind. Eliana waited until they were gone before she leapt to her feet and dragged Bái with her over to Cobalt and Lykos.

"What's going on El?" Cobalt asked. She sat down, placing Bái between her and Lykos. Bái blushed at Lykos who gave her a warm smile and Eliana faced Cobalt who had just finished his food, sitting on the other side of the table.

"You guys have Grimm Studies this semester, don't you?" Eliana asked. Cobalt nodded.

"I do," Cobalt replied. "I don't think Lykos does though." Lykos shook his head.

"Not this semester, but I still know quite a bit about Grimm, why?" Lykos inquired. Eliana smiled at the three of them and leaned in, waving them all in towards her.

"I have an idea."

"This is what I get for thinking that the library would be a better place to study than the cafeteria," Titus said to himself as he spotted the girls coming in. He sat at one of the several square tables that were set up in the upper level of the large library and scattered his books and pages out to make the table seem fuller than it was. He called out to them. "Let me guess! If I go back to the room, someone is going to follow me there too, right?!" Tawney leaned over to Ilia.

"Is he always so self-absorbed?" Tawney asked. Ilia nodded as they chose a table several feet away from Titus to avoid distracting him.

"A lot of the time, yes," Ilia responded. Neela shook her head as she sat with them and opened her textbook, flipping through the pages and looking for the chapter they were on. She was sure that she knew the material both forwards and back, Eliana had been kind enough to read the sample questions to her the night before repeatedly. The chapter mostly dealt with Boarbatusks and Ursai, where they were most commonly found, what their attacks were, what their weaknesses happened to be, and where they got their names. Stuff that didn't matter much in the heat of battle, but was still useful to know. Suddenly the doors of the library were thrown open and slammed shut as Eliana rolled in, propping her body against the door, out of breath. She pushed against it as something slammed against it, trying relentlessly to break in.

"Elli?" asked Neela. Eliana smiled and chuckled nervously. Titus looked up from his work, slightly annoyed, and yet slightly interested. "Elli, what's going on?"

"Well…" She grunted as she slammed back against the door. A roaring and growling could be heard. "I wanted to help you study, so I might have let a few Grimm out of the lab downstairs." Tawney smirked as Neela shook her head, trying to hide her smile. "Not my best idea yet."

"You meant well," Neela told her. There was a gleam and excitement in Tawney's eyes as she bounced on her feet beside the table now.

"Let them in!" Tawney shouted. Eliana looked at Neela and Ilia, Ilia nodding as Titus stood up at his own table reaching back for his blades, but noting that they weren't there. He glanced at Neela who came to the same realization about her own weapon.

"Wait!" Neela shouted out. The door burst open and two Boarbatusks ran in with two Ursai close behind, ready to tear them apart. Titus grabbed Neela and dove out of the way as Tawney revealed that she had brought her shotgun tonfas and slammed them together, smashing them against one of the Boarbatusks' heads, but it simply glanced off, causing the beast even more rage. Neela leapt to her feet, dashing out of the way of the other Boar that charged at her and Titus with its spin attack. The first Boar smashed into one of the tables, sending it sliding across the room.

"Didn't you read the chapter, Tawney?" Titus asked. He planted his feet firmly and caught the beast by the horns, lifting it slowly as he spun it around. "Their bellies are their weak point!" Ilia removed her butterfly knife and spun it around in her hand before lashing out and slicing through the Grimm, causing it to slowly dissolve in Titus' grip. Titus tossed what was left of it away and moved to stop the other one.

"Yes, I read the chapter! It's just my preferred fighting method against Grimm is to hit them until they stop moving! I don't usually put too much thought into it!" Tawney shouted back. "That should be enough to stop these Ursai! They don't have much protection on their bellies either and it usually only takes a few solid hits to get rid of them." Tawney saw to it that one of the monsters was defeated at her hand, with the other one turning its attention to Neela.

"You can do it, Neela!" Eliana called out as she ran to her. Neela's mind froze up for a moment, despite the fact that Eliana was standing right there beside her, reassuring her. It wasn't that she was afraid, but that without her weapon, she was far less powerful than they could imagine. Her semblance wasn't one that was conventional and couldn't be used in a helpful matter as fights were happening. She had amazing instincts and her ability to give direction in the midst of battle was impeccable. However, she understood that in a practice match of hand to hand combat against a Grimm, the creature would have the upper hand because she had no tools to assist her. As much as she wanted to ask for Eliana or Titus to step in and help her, her pride was far too great and she braced for impact.

"Hey!" came a shout. Seconds before the Ursa managed to bat Neela away, Jaune had shown up in a flash of light, placing himself between Neela and the Grimm, blocking the blow with his shield. The Ursa instantly disappeared and revealed Lykos standing in the room's doorway. "I'd ask what is going on in here, but it's probably just best that you straighten up the room and we don't tell Glynda." He looked back at Neela who looked up at him and nodded.

"Lykos, that was all you?" Tawney asked. His eyes became dark and he gave an evil grin as he stepped in with Cobalt. Lykos chuckled.

"It was only an illusion, and besides, it was all Cobalt's idea," Lykos said as he glanced over at Eliana who giggled. Cobalt's eyes grew wide and he grabbed Lykos.

"Wait just a minute!" Cobalt exclaimed. In a flash, Neo had arrived next to Cobalt, pulling him away from Lykos and placing her finger to her lips, pointing towards the door for him to leave. He swallowed and nodded as she shoved him towards the door. She pointed at the rest of them and also directed them towards the door as Titus put the table back where it had been and picked up his papers off of the floor. They all nodded and apologized as they left the library. "What was the defense instructor doing in the library anyway?"

"When teachers don't have a class, they take shifts watching the library," Bái explained. Tawney nodded as Cobalt looked over at her.

"Now where can we go to study?" Ilia asked. Neela looked at her group of friends and slowly turned around to find that Titus had disappeared again as he often did. She shook her head and Eliana grabbed her arm as they headed down the stairs to the main floor of the building.

"What is it?" Eliana asked her.

"Titus. He's hiding something. It's been three weeks now and for whatever reason, he just doesn't want to let us in. He has moments, I've noticed them on occasion. He smiles and gets into it, but as soon as the moment passes, his heart becomes stone again so to speak and he goes off on his own. I saw him break character when he was fighting in the library. For a moment there, he was actually enjoying himself, he even saved me when the Grimm first crashed into the room," Neela explained. They reached the bottom of the stairs and waited as the others left, Ilia continuing off with CBLT as she was wrapped up in their conversation. "I want to know why."

"What can we do?" Eliana asked. "If he doesn't want to let us in, it's not something that we can just force on him. He might try leaving again, and he's starting to grow on me. He helped me study for the last history test. I got a perfect score! Plus he's our friend, right?" Neela nodded smiling.

"Of course he is!" Neela hugged Eliana and Eliana squirmed away. "I'm just not sure how to get him to listen to us. I'm sure if he just told us what was wrong, maybe he'd open up."

"I think you're right," Ilia said as she returned to them. Neela cocked her hip and smirked.

"You were standing just around the corner the whole time, weren't you?" asked Neela.

"For someone who has a semblance like yours, I'm surprised it's even possible to eavesdrop on you," Ilia chuckled. "But I agree with your approach to Titus. Perhaps we should do a little team building tonight, maybe get to know each other. I've seen the look in his eyes in my own eyes when I've looked in the mirror before. I chose to be alone because it was the only way I knew how to keep myself safe, but Titus wouldn't need to be alone to do that. He possesses more physical strength than the three of us, and he's got wit that is only rivaled by your own Neela. I think that the loneliness I see in his eyes is for the protection of others."

"Is it from fear?" Neela asked in thought for a moment. "Do you think he's afraid of something and that's why he chooses to be alone?"

"It very well could be," Ilia offered. "What made you think of that?"

"He had an incident during the initiation with a patch of Grimm's Bane," Neela explained. Eliana shuddered and Ilia looked at the two of them.

"Grimm's Bane?" She asked.

"It's a flower that has a strong chemical property to induce fear. If the smell doesn't cause you to stir, contact against your skin can spell very dangerous side effects. Best case scenario, you hallucinate that you're living through the worst nightmare you can possibly imagine. Worst case scenario, the fear becomes too much and your heart stops from the shock. It isn't something that you should ever toy with or take lightly. Most of the residents of Patch have built up immunities, the flower is everywhere on the island," Eliana explained.

"You think he saw something from his past that would have caused him to close himself off from us?" Ilia asked. Neela shrugged.

"It's a possibility, though I doubt he'll be willing to just come out and say it. I saw the look on his face as I woke him up from the side effects. He was horrified," Neela told them. "I'm not sure how we can get him to open up to us. That's probably going to be the biggest issue."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Velvet told them as she passed by in the hallway. "People will always open up to you if you give them enough time and trust." She winked at them and kept walked as they watched her disappear down the hall.

"We should probably finish studying," Neela said as she presented her arm to Ilia. Ilia looked at it for a moment. "You're supposed to hook your arm over mine." Ilia looked up at Neela and then at Eliana.

"Why?" Ilia asked. Eliana giggled and Neela facepalmed, shaking her head.

"Never mind. Eliana, try not to get too bored, okay?" Neela told her. Eliana saluted.

"Yes, ma'am!" Eliana left down the hall in the opposite direction of Ilia and Neela and decided to head back to the dorms to be alone for a while. Maybe she'd read a book or get some studying done for one of her other classes. She didn't have much going on for the rest of the day, which left her with endless options. It was a bit different than the afternoons that she was used to back on Patch with her mother. Eliana looked at her scroll for a moment. She had no new notifications and she placed it back into her pocket as she left the campus building and headed over towards the dorms. She wondered how her mother was doing at home.

Eliana and her mother had spent every night together, at least when she wasn't over at Neela's. They only had each other for family after her father had died, Eliana's grandparents had left Patch before they had moved there but had never told Violet. It was unclear whether or not they had just found it time to move on, or whether they had been killed by Grimm, as houses in the middle of Patch were often subject to attack from. She tried not to think about it too much and told her mother that it obviously had to be the former, she knew the idea of her mom losing her husband  _and_  parents to Grimm attacks would be too much for her to handle.

Eliana had never had any siblings, so her mother was alone with the exception of a few chickens that they kept for eggs, and Eliana of course. Eliana wasn't able to visit since school had started, and she talked to her mom on a weekly basis, but she couldn't help but imagine that her mother just sat there all alone at home, watching the news every night, and worrying that her daughter would soon be in the middle of the action. The possibility of her death a constant, and a reminder of how fragile her husband's life had been. Eliana shook her head as she stepped off of the elevator and moved down the hall to their room.

She knew better. Her mother was kind and tender, so she no doubt would worry about Eliana, but she was also a fighter. When Eliana was younger, her father had often told her that her mother was far more capable than he was, if only she had the will to. Yes, her mother was a warrior deep inside, but it was typically her deep care for others that kept her from needing to show it. She had been able to rely on her husband when she was younger, and now she had Eliana. Eliana contemplated calling her mom as she opened the door and found that Titus had returned to the room to study. He looked up at her and sighed as he closed his book and slowly slid out his chair.

"Illi?" He asked hesitating. She giggled. He did well during the day of their initiation keeping their names straight, but she found the slip up amusing.

"Elli," she told him once more and he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'll go find somewhere else to study…" He began to tell her.

"No!" She exclaimed. He stopped and looked at her with intense eyes as she smiled at him. "You're fine! I can be really quiet!" He looked at her for a moment before he smirked and sat back down.

"You're far too selfless Elli," he told her. She smiled warmly still and he placed his book back on the table and returned to studying as she moved to her bed and sat on it. She pulled a book out from under the bed and flipped quietly through the pages before she found her spot, she had creased the top corner so that she could figure out where she had left off before. She had found it in Neela's suitcase on the first day as they were unpacking. Somehow, Blake's Ninja's of Love book had found its way into her luggage and Eliana had snuck it out to read and return later. Titus cleared his throat as he wrote something down and she looked up at him.

"Am I being too loud?" She asked him.

"No. You're fine," he told her. "I have to ask though. How do you feel about Neela?" Eliana set the book down for a moment and looked over at him, tilting her head as he looked back at her.

"What do you mean?" Eliana asked.

"Just… What's your relationship with Neela like?" He asked her. He looked back down at his text and she moved to the edge of her bed, staring out the window at the sky.

"I was in the dark once. It was a bad place. My father had died a few months before we moved to Patch and I didn't want anything to do with anyone. I was scared, confused, and I thought that if I was alone, everything would be easier. It was at first, but inside I was dying. I had a burning desire to be close to anyone, someone, who could help me feel like the world would make sense again. I convinced myself that being alone was for my own good and that it was for theirs too. I was depressed, why would anyone want to associate with me?

That's when Neela came along and she didn't give me the option. She showed me that by being alone, I was hurting her as well. I had never thought of it that way, I only thought of loneliness as keeping myself from being hurt again, but all that Neela wanted was for me to let her in. She was so sincere, and she cared for me so much. I told her about my father, and she cried with me and for me, and it felt amazing. But why? Why was it that sharing my pain made it easier to keep going? If anything I should have been disgusted for making her cry too. She told me it was okay.

She told me that she would help me carry the pain. And she did…" Eliana looked at her shaking hands and looked up at Titus who was watching her intensely. "I would never have made it out of my depression on my own, and I owe it all to Neela. She's so much like my father. They're both so caring, selfless, and willing to do whatever they have to in order to protect the ones they love. My father was the first light that I followed and as I fell into the darkness, Neela was the light that led me out. All that I want in life is to make my father proud and be just like him and Neela."

"Eliana… I'm sorry," Titus told her quietly. She smiled through the tears that fell down her face and he was stunned. How could she be so happy thinking about her father? Surely talking about it must hurt her more than he could possibly know.

"Don't be!" She exclaimed laughing as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "You can help me carry the pain as well Titus! You just need to open up!" He gritted his teeth as his eyes widened and he slowly stood. His body shook and his mind clouded as he stared into the void in front of him. What was this feeling? Had he really been so helpless all along? Was his weakness thinking that he could do it on his own all this time? Could it be that simple as telling Eliana what happened?

"I…" Eliana stood, her eyes still red from her tears as she took a step to Titus and stood just a few inches from him. His eyes were frantic, his body frozen as he stared down at her. Fear gripped him.  _If you can't do this alone Titus, you'll never be strong enough! They could achieve an even greater strength if they worked together._ Who was he supposed to listen to?! Who was right?! "Eliana… I…" Then it happened. Something broke.

Eliana wrapped her arms around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week, we find out what made Titus so dependent upon himself in Chapter 17 - Titus Dismantled!
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	21. Titus Dismantled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Titus finally remembers the moment he was trying so hard to forget, the moment that had turned him into a Gargoyle.

"We're so proud of you," the short graying woman told Titus as she wrapped her arms around him and held him tight for a long moment. He beamed in the warmth of the moment, his mother's love washing over him as she held onto him, perhaps longer than she needed to, but Titus didn't want her to ever let him go. They had always had a rough life living in Mantle, one of Atlas' many forgotten cities after the capital had been built. It was run down, broken, impoverished, and yet they had always managed to get by despite the odds. Titus' father had worked hard in the Dust mines every day and sometimes at night too until his third and final younger sister had been born and his father died in a collapse. It was no one's fault, and no one could have seen it coming, but life always had a way of keeping the residents of Mantle down.

That's why Titus needed to leave for the Capital as much as he hated the Military and the Schnees. They were the reason for the poor state that Mantle had been left in, but they were Titus' only way out of poverty. He would become one of the greatest generals that Atlas had ever seen and he would save his mother and three sisters. He'd be rich and powerful, and he would never have to worry about the safety of his family ever again. He had been training hard for years now, and at the age of 15, he was being summoned to the Capital for his final test to determine whether or not he was able enough to be considered Atlas Military. His mother finally let him go, clinging to her rags as the wind began to blow in, a storm was on the way.

"I will come back. I will save you." He told her. She smiled and nodded.

"I know that you will." She replied and hobbled back into her hut, preparing to secure everything before the rains arrived. "If you see that Natalia girl, please tell her that I say hi." Titus shook his head as he smiled.

"Mom!" He scolded her. She laughed and coughed and Titus frowned. He  _would_  save them, it was his one and only goal, failing was not an option. He headed for the airship and climbed on as it lifted off, sitting beside the pilot as they settled in. Titus gyrated his shoulders, trying to loosen them before they arrived in roughly 10 minutes.

"Who have you been training with?" The pilot asked trying to make small talk as she flew the plane north.

"General Admon," Titus told her as he leaned back. She chuckled. "What is it?"

"You must be Titus then," she told him. He looked at her in a bit of confusion and nodded.

"I am, why?" He inquired. Thunder rolled in the distance as it began to rain hard and she flew lower to the ground, turning the airship towards the east slightly. "Where are we heading, I thought that I was supposed to report to the Academy." He told her. She turned towards him slightly and smiled.

"Don't worry. This is all a part of Admon's plans," she reassured him. A static came over Titus' radio, bringing it to life suddenly and he pulled it up off of his hip.

"I'm sorry command, what was that? That last message didn't come through clearly." Titus replied.

"Titus, stay where you are! Our airships have been sabotaged, we're not able to come get you! We think it's the work of Admon!" Winter Schnee's voice yelled over the radio. A confusion filled Titus as he glanced over at the pilot whose lips parted as she smiled.

"I'm already airborne. I was picked up a few minutes ago for my last test!" Titus informed her.

"Get out of there!" Titus reached back for one of his blades, but the pilot had stood and looked into his eyes. Her pink eyes lit up and he was paralyzed, fully aware of what was happening, but unable to move.

"Damn," she said. She snatched both of his blades from him and tossed them out of the airship where they landed in a field below. "I was hoping we'd get to have a little fun before things got kicked off, but it looks like there won't be any time." She grabbed his uniform and manipulated it off of his body, pulling it off of his arms and throwing it to the ground below as well. She shoved him out after another minute or two, his body landing hard on the ground as the paralysis wore off. He bounded to a stop and planted his hands, his left arm folding under him as he managed to halt, pain shooting up through it. He looked up and surveyed his surroundings, noting that she must have headed back towards Mantle before dropping him out of the ship. What was happening?

"Titus! Titus! Are you there?" asked Winter over his radio which the pilot had decided to leave him with.

"Schnee, what's going on?" He managed as he slowly and gingerly found his feet. "What do you mean that Admon is behind this?"

"General Admon was appointed by the Remnant Peace Council after distrust surrounded Ironwood because of the Fall of Beacon. Since he took over, he's made many questionable decisions, but up to this point, we were unable to have him removed from his position. After further investigation into the Taurus incident as well as numerous others, we were able to strip him of his rank, but his personal followers are everywhere. It's incited a riot here at the Academy and we're working on clearing his men out. He said he had one last mission to complete and took off for Mantle," Winter explained. Titus didn't quite follow, but he still stumbled towards Mantle, the rain soaking him and wind trying to pull him back down to the ground. He struggled as he marched towards the city, which appeared to be on fire now. He heard the roar of Grimm nearby.

"What do you mean final mission?" Titus asked.

"I think he planned on finishing your training, but now that he's no longer obligated to follow our rules, there's no telling what he might do…" Winter's voice was cut off as static blared over the radio followed by someone breathing heavily into a microphone.

"Titus. I'm so glad that you could make it back to see the rest of your training through. It would have been a shame had Winter finished it with you, you would have become soft and pathetic, but I'm not going to let that happen to you," Admon's voice said over the radio.

"What do you plan on doing?" Titus asked. Admon cackled into the radio and sighed.

"Look at what I've already started!" Admon shouted, his voice ringing out from the city and into the storm to greet Titus. There was no doubt now as the Grimm rushed by, Mantle was on fire. "I'll give you five minutes to get here and stop me, Titus. If that's not enough time, then they will die. If you call for help, they will die. If you die, they will die. You had better hurry."

"You don't mean," Titus grunted. Silence fell over the radio for a moment.

"You live on Bakers Road, right Titus?" Titus froze as a sickness and dizziness slammed into him and stopped him dead in his tracks, he landed on his knees. This man meant to kill his family. This was how he was going to teach Titus how to become stronger?! Titus latched the radio back onto his hip and moved more quickly towards the city despite the pain he felt, hoping and praying that his arm would heal before he arrived. A Beowulf charged towards Titus from behind, but Titus felt the beast coming close and spun around, slamming his fist into its jaw and watching it crash to the ground. The rain fell harder now and lightning streaked across the sky, revealing the silhouette of the previous general, his body and sniper rifle quite visible from the top of the old clock tower in the middle of the town.

"Dammit!" Titus swore under his breath. He grabbed the small back up dagger that he kept in his right boot and leapt onto the back of an Ursa that was storming towards the city with the rest of the beasts, as he neared the outer wall, he could hear the screams of confusion and fear of those inside. He clubbed it in the back of the head and pulled out his knife, leaping off as it toppled over and rolled to a stop at an old section of the wall that had begun crumbling some years ago. Titus quickly snuck in and turned towards his road, hordes of citizens racing out past him in horror. His mother was too weak to leave, and his sisters wouldn't be able to get her out. He snatched his hand back as a gunshot rang out and removed the weapon from his hand. He glanced at his empty palm before looking up at Admon. "What's the big idea?!"

"This is how you'll become a legend Titus! This is how you'll achieve greatness!" Admon shouted in reply from his perch. The fact that Titus was soaked to the bone began to set in and he trembled as the wind blew even harder, throwing wooden debris past him. The gale became too strong and it destroyed what was left of the tower's structure, forcing Admon to come down on the other side of the building, out of Titus' line of sight. Grimm tore past him, not stopping to acknowledge Titus as he struggled against the wind. A street market stand smashed off of him, tossing him onto the cobblestone road and causing him a great deal of pain. He managed to find his feet after a long moment, but they were removed from under him again as he was thrown onto his back, a bullet slamming into his left shoulder.

"Admon! Stop this!" Titus demanded.

"Time's almost up Titus! You really are worthless, aren't you?! I always knew you couldn't do it. That you wouldn't be strong enough to save your family, let alone yourself. You call yourself an Atlesian Soldier. How will you live with yourself if they die?!" Admon's menacing voice called out through the chaos. Titus found his hands and knees as a sizable chunk of debris hammered into him and drove him back to his chest. He reached for the radio and fumbled with it for a moment before it was shot out of his trembling grip and bounced away, landing in a pothole, waterlogging it completely.

"I need help!" Titus screamed out.  _Someone! Anyone! Please! Help Me!_  The shooter laughed but sounded disgusted and Titus could hear him drawing closer, his boots splattering water off of the soaking wet road with every step. The man leaned down and grabbed Titus by the collar of his shirt, his pink eyes menacing and terrifying, piercing his soul. They were the same as the pilot's, but that didn't matter at the moment, it was the furthest thing from the front of Titus' mind. The crazed smile left Admon's lips as he tossed Titus back onto the ground and got on his hands and knees beside his pupil.

"If you can't do this alone Titus, you'll never be strong enough!" Admon screamed. He pointed his gun towards Titus' road and looked down the sights, spending a long moment trying to focus. "I think I can see them from here."

"Admon!" Titus shouted. The sniper in the black trench coat laughed as he turned quickly and kicked Titus in the ribs. Titus grunted, coughing up blood as he hit the ground, was his body already close to its limit? He felt the muzzle of the rifle being pressed against the back of his head.

"That's  **General**  Admon to you!" He shouted out. "You have failed me Titus, and just like all of my other failures, you will die!" The gunshot rang out as the gun jerked away from Titus' head and Admon slid backward.

"You must be Titus," a voice said from above him. Titus tried to pull himself up but fell back onto the road. "You're fine kid, just stay there for a moment."

"So, Winter was unable to get out of Atlas and sent her messenger instead," Admon asked.

"I prefer the term fiancé," Qrow told him. "But don't worry, Winter will be here shortly." Admon scoffed and looked back at his target.

"Titus has failed, his family must pay for his failure," Admon informed him. Qrow chuckled as he set his feet and held his sword in front of him.

"We'll see about that," Qrow replied. Admon propped his gun against his body and placed his fingers in his mouth, whistling loudly.

"Camellia, some help if you would!" The villain called out. The paralysis that Titus had felt on the airship gripped him again and his eyes twitched as he felt like something was being ripped from his body. He watched as the brunette pilot wearing the Atlas Uniform with the pink eyes from before formed in front of him, smiling at Qrow and locking him under her power. Had she trapped herself inside of Titus' mind? Qrow fell to his knees as she disappeared again and his eyes remained pink.

"What the hell is this?" Qrow grunted.

"My sister Camelia is a femme fatale if you will. She draws men in with her looks and then traps herself in their eyes. She can't control you entirely, but you will be a bit more sluggish now," Admon divulged to Qrow. He swung his rifle around. "And the great thing is that I can kill you, and she'll be just fine." Titus felt immediately different and dashed past Qrow, snatching the gun away from Admon and swinging it around like a bat, smashing it against Admon's face. He stumbled back and chuckled as he regained his footing on the wet ground. The rain seemed to be coming down even harder now, and Titus quickly maneuvered the gun, pointing it at his teacher and pulling the trigger, but nothing happened. "Of all people Titus, you should know that my gun will only work with my finger or Camellia's on the trigger."

"Go to hell you monster!" Titus shouted out. He swung the gun again, missing Admon by quite a large margin this time. Admon's eyes lit up, much like Camellia's, only this time Admon's appearance had changed and he looked like Titus. "Confused?" Titus looked down at his hands to find that the gun was gone and was being aimed directly at his chest.

"What did you do?" Titus asked.

"A body-swapping. All because you looked into my eyes," Admon told him. He slowly gripped the trigger but the gun was knocked out of his hand by Winter's sword. He looked up at her quickly and growled, snarling at her and running after his gun, but a glyph was thrown under him and stopped his movement. He looked back at Qrow who was forced to look at him by the woman in his head and swapped spots with him, swinging Qrow's sword and glancing it off of Winter's. "Camellia, we may need to go. Kill the family." Qrow fell to the ground as Camellia leapt out and slid across the wet earth, grabbing up the gun and pulling the barrel off, spinning it one hundred and eighty degrees and slamming it back onto the gun. She placed it on her shoulder and fired, a rocket slamming into the house behind his own and blowing the wall apart.

"No!" Titus yelled. He sprinted after the woman, reaching her in a few steps as she aimed to fire again. He yanked the gun out of her hands and she let the two electric prods slide out of her sleeves. She slammed them both into his chest, driving him back to the ground and grabbing the gun away from him.

"Admon!" She shouted rolling out of the glyph's affected area. The siblings swapped bodies and Camellia attacked Winter harder, keeping her from stopping her brother as he reformed the rifle and aimed towards the house. He slammed the butt of the gun back into Qrow's chest as he came too close and smirked as he found his mark.

"Helpless Titus." Another gunshot rang out and Admon's eyes grew wide as he was thrown onto his side, the gun flying from his hands and landing several feet away. Ironwood walked over to Qrow and helped him up as Camellia gave a final push at Winter and disappeared into a flash of bright pink light. Winter's chest heaved as she looked down at Admon who lay on his side, mouth stuck in that evil smile that he had always worn, laughing at something that he found amusing. "You make me sick Titus."

"Shut up Admon!" Ironwood demanded. Admon shook his head as his body curled into the fetal position.

"No! Titus isn't worthy of joining the Atlesian Army! You and your family would have died if they hadn't come along! You'll never be strong enough to do it on your own!" Ironwood kicked Admon in the face, knocking him out and moving next to the man's rifle. Titus trembled as he finally found his feet after the electric shock had worn off and he stared at Admon without looking away. He was right. If they hadn't come along, his family would have died. He wasn't strong enough. He needed to be stronger. Winter slowly grabbed his shoulder and he flinched, his eyes casting daggers at her as he seethed slightly.

"Titus, you can't listen to him. There's no way that any of us could have taken him on our own. Sometimes we need to rely on others," Winter explained.

"Then perhaps…" Titus walked towards his house, leaving them behind him as the rain dripped off of him and the sky began to clear up. "Perhaps none of you are strong enough." Titus shook as he reached his house and climbed in through the window, noting that the door had been locked. He opened the trapdoor and climbed down into the cellar. His mother ran to him and threw her arms around him again.

"Titus! Thank the Maidens you're okay!" She proclaimed. "You saved us! We were all counting on you to save us!" Titus felt the emotion of the fight build inside of him and he placed his head on her shoulder.

"I wasn't strong enough to save you on my own!" He told her sobbing. She pulled him away and looked into his eyes.

"It's not important that you can do it alone Titus. What's important is that you make a difference however you can, even if it's with the help of others," his mother told him.

* * *

"I can help carry your pain too if you'd like," Eliana told him. Titus wrapped his arms around her in return and pulled her in tight, lightly swinging her from side to side as he took a deep breath.

"My teacher. One of my mentors back in Atlas tried to kill my family once. I was able to stop him with some help, but after that moment I always felt like the people around me would be safer if I didn't let them in. What would happen if I put others that I care about in danger, and I can't save them?" He confessed. She looked up at him with a smile.

"If that happens, you won't be alone. You don't have to face these things by yourself, Titus," Eliana explained to him. "What's important is that you can make a difference, even if it is with the help of your teammates." Titus didn't know what to say to her. Eliana had somehow seen right through him. She was so naïve and innocent, and he had dropped his guard. Now she had seen him in his most vulnerable state. This wouldn't change anything, not right away, but maybe he could work on being more open towards them and letting them help him. He could help them in return as well.

"Eliana…" He began as he let go of her. She smiled and stepped past him, gathering up his book and assignments for him and handing them over. He looked at them as he took them and then back at her.

"You'd better get going, that test is going to be starting soon," Eliana told him. He nodded. He opened the door and stepped into the hall but was stopped as she called out. "Oh, and I won't tell Neela and Ilia." Titus smirked and nodded to her one last time before leaving the room.

"Thank you, Eliana."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little on the shorter side this week, pacing somehow ended up a little off between this chapter and the last. Next week we'll see what the criminal Orion Nova has been up to in Chapter 18 - The Stardust Gang!
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	22. Stardust Gang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Orion's friends finally show up to help him escape captivity, but will they be a match for the Huntsmen that arrive to stop them?

Had it been three weeks or had it been four weeks since they had locked Orion up in this cell? He had lost count after a few days, and there was really no way of telling how many days had passed and how long they intended to keep him for. They didn't have a set schedule for him, he felt more like he had been taken as a prisoner of war. They came in whenever they pleased, interrogating him and doing their best to try and get some information out of him. They had failed every time so far. Then they would give him some rations and they'd leave, telling him that they would be back soon. He sighed as he sat against the wall on his cot.

Mercury had to have noticed by now that he was missing, right? If Sirius and the twins didn't find him soon, he wasn't sure if he could keep himself from telling them where Mercury was holed up. It would be a minor setback at best, but it was hard to say that Orion or the rest of his crew even needed Mercury to act as a front anymore. They had acted under him with the promise that when he took the city of Vale under his control, they would be delegated part of that power. That was their deal with him. Whether or not he was acting for someone else or of his own accord was none of their concern. They were just some thugs looking for work and pay, right?

It wasn't entirely true, Orion had bigger and better plans to run Vale himself, with the help of his own entourage that he had assembled under himself and then had convinced Mercury to hire. He had first found Astra and Asteria Gemini when they had fled Mistral for an easier life of crime in Vale. Vale always meant well, but their police force was nothing compared to the military forces of the kingdoms that constantly patrolled the other capitals. Regardless, he had found himself robbing the same shop that they were one night and decided to ask them to join the cause, there was something about their quirkiness that he appreciated. Both of the girls wielded two short swords, each of the four swords were laced with a different kind of Dust. Their semblance was something different entirely…

Rounding out their group was Sirius Canis, an individual who knew his way around the streets of Vale just as well as Orion did, living just outside of the city and frequently committing robberies on different ends of town so that no one ever associated him with his other crimes. He wielded a sword that he claimed was made out of Grimm bone, but Orion had his doubts. Sirius always found him when he was captured due to his semblance of local clairvoyance, however, Orion was sure that this was outside of Sirius' range. Perhaps it was in Orion's best interest to cooperate, if the rest of his team came and tried to save him there was the chance that they would run into members of Team RWBY, and that was an absolute worst case scenario.

"So here's the question that I've been thinking over for quite some time," a voice came as it approached the cell with other footsteps. "Mercury's Gang has been around now for quite some time, right? So then why had RWBY taken an extremely sudden interest in the matter?" Orion spotted the taller man with short and messy silver hair, his light blue eyes searching the cell over as he looked back down the hall beside him. He wore a long red robe that was open, revealing his exposed torso and black pants, his silver wolf tail protruding from the back of the trench coat. Sirius looked down at the sword in his hand before slamming it against the cell with no effect. "Interesting."

"Did you bring the girls with you?" Orion asked. Sirius nodded and they came into view, both of them taking a good look at the cell as well. The girls had hair that was slightly longer than shoulder length and permed. Both of the sisters wore black skin-tight short shorts that had garter belts holding up their black knee-high stockings. Each twin had black laced high heels as well. Lastly, the girls matched each other with black leather cropped boleros. The only discernible difference between the two was their belts, strapless bras, hair, and eyes. All of Asteria's listed features were a neon blue color that seemed to glow, as though they were glowsticks. Astra's were orange. Astra tilted her head.

"Orion, is this the fifth time in the last three months?" Astra asked as she took a look at the lock. Asteria stepped up and smiled at Orion, her seductive eyes watching him for a long moment as she bent over beside her sister to help look the lock over.

"This is the sixth time Astra," Asteria reminded her. "Don't forget that he was captured after he robbed the Dust shop in the northern district." Astra smiled thoughtfully and glanced at her sister who was directly beside her.

"You're right Asteria, this would be the sixth time," Astra agreed. Orion leapt up off of the bed and walked to the bars, letting the ladies work as he talked to Sirius.

"You agree though, don't you?" Sirius asked. "It's a bit odd that RWBY is involved with us now. What would Mercury be doing that would merit such a high level of risk and containment." Orion shrugged.

"I would hardly call this high level. They've thrown me in here, and I didn't hear you struggling with anyone on your way in. They must have assumed that this place was hidden well enough that I wouldn't be found," Orion told him. "How did you know where to find me anyway?"

"A tracking device installed by Mercury in your gauntlet," Asteria told him as she removed a lockpick from her cleavage and handed it to Astra.

"No Asteria, I believe the tracking device was installed on his shield," Astra said as she worked the lock. Asteria tilted her head in thought for a moment before nodding.

"You're right Astra, it was the shield," Asteria agreed. Astra shifted the pick and the cell door swung open, allowing Orion to leave.

"Thank you, ladies! Wonderful work as always!" He told them. They both stepped back as he left the cell and stretched for a moment. "Anyone know where my gauntlet and shield are?"

"Why would we know," Astra asked. "Sirius is the one with clairvoyance."

"I think I saw it in the first room that we came in through," Asteria told him. "It was a locker room I believe." Astra shook her head.

"The first room was a small kitchen Asteria," Astra reminded her. Asteria looked hard at her sister for a moment and nodded.

"You're right Astra, it was a kitchen," Asteria agreed. Sirius shook his head.

"I will never understand what possessed you to take these two in," Sirius told Orion as he sniffed the air.

"I think they're kind of cute," Orion told Sirius. Sirius shook his head again.

"I think that you and I have two very different ideas on the definition of the word cute, but they do say that beauty is in the beholder, so I guess I can't say much on the matter since it is purely opinion driven," Sirius explained. He sniffed the air again for a second and pointed.

"Is that where my weapons are?" Orion asked. Sirius looked at him.

"No, the twins were right, your weapons are in the first room. Someone's coming," Sirius told them. The girls removed their swords and gripped them lightly. "Actually it's more than one person coming."

"Stop! Prepare to be recaptured, Orion…" Sun exclaimed as he spun his staff above his head. "… and the rest of you." Sun stopped and looked over at Neptune. "Dude, who are the rest of these people?" Neptune shrugged as Yatsuhashi also entered the room with them. "Yatsu?"

"Coco said that there was only one prisoner. These others must be trying to break him out," Yatsu explained. Sun spun his staff above his head again before posing.

"Is that so?!" Sun exclaimed. "Prepare to meet your match evildoers, in the form of Sun, Neptune, and Yatsuhashi!" Orion looked at Sirius and shrugged as he took off down the hall for his gear, Yatsuhashi chasing after him. Sirius rushed forward and struck out at Sun who blocked the blow, spinning his staff around and attempting a series of quick attacks which were blocked flawlessly by Sirius who smirked. The twins waited for Neptune to make his move as Sirius drove Sun further away from the cell and into the opposing hallway.

"Ladies," Neptune said giving them a smile and winking. "I think we can work something out if you just show yourselves into the cell, okay?"

"Should I take care of him first Asteria?" Astra asked.

"I will follow your lead Astra," Asteria replied. Astra moved quickly towards Neptune, her swords glancing off of his trident until she found an opening and landed a hit with her earth Dust blade. It stopped him effectively and she slid out of the way as Asteria charged in and smashed through the rock with her gravity blade, sending him across the room and planting him into the wall. "Astra, we didn't even get to use our semblance against him." Astra nodded thoughtfully.

"I know Asteria. Such a shame. Perhaps we should help Sirius next? Orion can handle himself," Astra told her sister. Asteria nodded.

"Yes, let's help Sirius next."

Orion set off a concussive blast behind him, hoping to slow down Yatsu, but Yatsu was quicker than expected and used his sword to block the blast as Orion slid into the kitchen and snatched both of his weapons off of the counter.

"I'm actually a little insulted!" Orion grunted as Yatsu's sword crashed off of his shield. "What were they doing with my glove and shield here? I mean, they could have locked it up in some sort of weapons locker. Instead, it was just sitting in here… Is this a mustard stain?" Yatsu's sword crashed off of the shield again and Orion grabbed it quickly, sending a wave of gravity through the sword and tossing Yatsu back, he slid to a stop using his blade by planting it into the floor. He lunged forward and Orion absorbed an orb of light into his gauntlet, blasting it back out and watching it fly for Yatsu. He quickly planted his feet and deflected the energy with his sword, they both watched as it slammed into the cabinets and blasted the doors off, the aftershock wave throwing dishes about the room.

"You won't escape. We've sounded the alarm, Yang and Pyrrha will be here shortly," Yatsu told his opponent. Orion chuckled and blasted Yatsu with another wave of gravity Dust, but it left him unfazed. Orion drew in another orb behind his back and let it power his glove as he watched Yatsuhashi, waiting for the giant to attack.

"How long do you have to stall me for?" Orion asked. He charged forward and slammed into Yatsu's sword, transferring all of the energy to his shield quickly and letting it out in a blast. It caught him off guard and jerked him back, allowing Orion to slam his fist into Yatsuhashi's chest and forcing him to the wall. Orion spun away and took off back towards the cell, using his gauntlet to collapse the hallway behind him, knowing it would slow them down. He ran past Neptune and into the next hallway where he found Sirius fighting Sun with the twins.

"We don't need your help, Orion," Asteria told him.

"He could watch the hallway for the one with the spear to wake up Asteria," Astra offered.

"You're right Astra. Watch for the one with the blue hair," Asteria replied. Orion groaned and returned to the end of the hallway, keeping watch.

"Sirius, we're going to have problems here in a moment if we don't get a move on," Orion explained. Sun met every slash and swipe from the bone blade with his gun chucks, Sirius deflecting them to each side as he glanced over at the ladies as they watched him.

"I think it might be time to plan an escape," Sirius told them as he tried to divide his attention. Sun drove him back, but he maintained his footing and blocked him effortlessly once again. The girls nodded and headed down the hallway as Orion stopped close to Sun and Sirius, lifting his hand and collapsing the end of the hallway off. "Orion, go with them, they're going to need your help."

"Naturally," Orion said as he ran past them as well. Sirius knocked back Sun and took off running towards Orion, diving forward as Orion blinded Sun and then collapsed the hallway between them and him. Sirius looked up at Orion as he was helped up and they joined the twins in a large cavernous area.

"It would have been far easier to head back out the way we came in," Sirius scolded Orion. Orion walked away, chasing after the sisters.

"I'm sorry, if we hadn't come back this way, Yang Xiao Long and Pyrrha Arc were going to make quick work of us, not to mention I needed to get away from the tall guy," Orion explained hoping to justify himself. Orion looked around at the city in amazement, slowly making a large and sweeping circle to view everything. "Hard to believe that people tried to live down here to get away from the Grimm. Why is this all blocked off again?"

"Before the Fall of Beacon, they tried using these tunnels to give the Grimm a direct route to the City of Vale," Sirius explained. "There is a chance that we might need to make our own exit, but let's not act too hastily, I'm afraid that you might bring the entire cave down on top of us. There may be another way out yet." Orion nodded and watched as the girls headed towards the far end of the buildings, where a wall had appeared to have been sealed off for some reason or another. He followed them and Sirius followed suit, having nothing else to go off of and hoping to keep them together on the off chance that the Huntsmen and Huntresses managed to get through the multiple cave-ins that Orion had caused in his impatience to get out.

"Well if it isn't the Stardust Gang," called out a voice. "Or at least that's what you're all calling yourselves, right?" The man chuckled as Sirius and the Gemini Twins turned to face him.

"Mercury, you're just in time and not a moment too soon I might add," Sirius said bowing his head. The twins sauntered over to him and hung on each shoulder.

"He's so strong Astra, what a man," Asteria said smiling at her sister and then up at Mercury who was pleased with the attention.

"He's so handsome Asteria," Astra replied running her hand down his chest. He wrapped his arms around their waists as Sirius joined them, standing to their left.

"I was hoping that maybe they had killed you," Mercury told Orion. "I would have had one less problem to look after if they had. You can't deny the fact that you are always being caught Orion, and when I have to send the three of them to retrieve you, it's a waste of my manpower. The four of you are my A-Team so to speak, everyone else is petty thieves compared to you guys. However, if you're going to keep getting caught or keep allowing yourself to be caught, maybe I need to find someone to replace you, perhaps that little girl over at Miltia and Melanie's club?" Orion gritted his teeth still facing away from Mercury.

"You hoped that they'd killed me? Am I that expendable to you?" Orion asked clenching his fists, the shield trembling in his clutch. Mercury laughed.

"Yes, you are. You haven't done anything in a long time to prove yourself to me Orion, that's why Sirius is my right-hand man. His semblance and fighting skills are exactly what I need out of everyone who works for me," Mercury told him.

"You want me to prove myself?" Orion asked as his face darkened and he turned back to Mercury giving them a wicked sneer. Mercury's grin was wiped off of his face and he slipped his arms off of the twins, lightly pushing them away as he took a step forward.

"Orion, don't do this. This won't end well for you," Sirius called out.

"Shut up! Et tu, Sirius?" Orion's eyes stared intensely at Mercury and they both stood unmoving for a long couple of moments, a sound thundering at the far end of the cave, as though Yatsu had made it through the rubble and was coming for them. Was he really strong enough to do such a thing, or was it Yang? Had the backup that he spoke of arrived already? Did they really believe that Orion had information that was that important to them?

"Mercury, I have to recommend that we…" Sirius began.

Orion disappeared into a streak of light that shot towards Mercury and reformed as a human as he reached his target, reaching out to grab Mercury who had already leapt. Merc kicked Orion's armored hand away and pulled in his other leg as he spun completely around, he planned to bring down both legs and smash them through Orion's legs, effectively breaking them. Orion threw up his shield at the last moment, stumbling back as Mercury leapt off of it. He backflipped twice as Orion drew in his light energy, preparing to blast it at his opponent. Sirius' attention turned from the battle as he heard the thundering sound and ran towards it, the twins followed close behind.

Orion blasted energy towards Mercury, which he deflected with a solid kick, planting his left foot beneath him and kicking several more times, sending his own attack back, the blasts of air Dust slamming off of Orion's shield as he slid back slightly. He used a wave of gravity Dust from his glove to disperse of the remaining projectiles, bringing his shield back as he prepared to attack, but Mercury was nowhere to be spotted. Orion quickly formed a light orb, which reflected off of the side of Mercury's boots, revealing that he was coming at him from above. Orion threw his shield up but it was kicked out of his hand this time and he blocked the follow through kick with his gauntlet.

Mercury chuckled as he was suspended for a moment, the gauntlet sliding across the bottom of his boot. He fired a shot, knocking Orion's arm down and planting a kick on his shoulder, driving him to the ground. Orion threw a wave of gravity Dust out away from his body as he rolled onto his back, watching as Mercury leapt over it and ran towards him. Orion quickly teleported away and reformed as he grabbed up his shield, transferring his light energy into the shield and bracing for Merc. Mercury planted another kick against it but was thrown back by the energy's resistance and he slid across the ground. Mercury smirked and charged in.

Orion was surprised by the sudden direct approach but had decided how to dispatch the arrogant fool. He reached up quickly, reaching over Mercury's kick and grabbing him by the throat with his gauntlet, smiling with pleasure as Mercury clutched hard at the hand and gasped. Orion had done it, he finally proved himself and now he would finish it. They didn't need Mercury, and soon the entire city… No, the entire kingdom… Would know of Orion Nova and the Stardust Gang! Orion's glove charged up as he relished the moment. As his eyes caught Merc's, the satisfaction escaped him, Mercury's eyes weren't filled with horror, but amusement. What was Orion missing?

Mercury swung up his legs and planted them hard in Orion's shoulder before he could block them with his shield and Mercury fired. His shoulder was jerked back and pain flared down his arm as he tried to keep holding on, unable to think well enough to knock Mercury off of his with the shield in his other hand. If he took another hit direct hit like that, his aura might suffer and it would either break or allow his arm to be broken, another blast would surely shatter his shoulder. Mercury grinned as he grunted, slowly planting his feet again and pulling back against the gauntlet, Orion's hand trembled. He only needed to squeeze a bit harder, and Mercury would be dead…

Another shot rang out and Orion's grip released in panic, setting Mercury free, who pulled off the glove as he flew from Orion. Mercury looked at the gauntlet before looking back up at his underling who was filled with shock. That's what Mercury had planned on. He knew that Orion would get cocky and Mercury played on that. Mercury tossed the weapon as far as he could before rolling up his sleeves, cracking his neck as he bounced on his feet. Orion was defeated, but know he had to defend his pride and hope that Mercury wouldn't kill him for the stunt that he had just pulled and failed with.

"Is that it?" Mercury asked fanning the flames of rage in Orion. "Is that all you can do? I thought that you were going to show me that you could prove yourself to me so that I'd take you seriously?" Orion could see the marks on Mercury's neck and scowled. He demanded respect, and perhaps he would have to die in order to get it, but Orion refused to let them think of him as less than the rest of them. "You didn't even get any information in return while you were kept here, did you?"

"Nothing more than the fact that the Council is very much convinced that you are working for someone else and not on your own," Orion told him. Mercury grinned thoughtfully.

"Interesting." Mercury charged in and leapt, his boots thundering off of the shield several times before he backflipped away. "What will you do now Orion? I'm the one who gave you that gauntlet, I know that it channels all of your power and is made of a hybrid metal that's been formed together with gravity Dust. You're weak without it. If you admit that I've defeated you, perhaps I'll let you live." Orion clinched his jaw, he couldn't admit that so easily. As long as he was standing, he couldn't give up, he needed to demand the respect that he deserved.

"I will prove myself!" Orion yelled. Sirius and the sisters were returning, all three seemed to be out of breath.

"What is it?" Mercury asked, his eyes watching Orion the entire time.

"Yang and Pyrrha are here, I would highly suggest that we leave," Sirius advised. Mercury smiled at Orion.

"The twins and I will leave. Sirius, take care of Pyrrha. Orion, if you want to prove yourself, defeat Xiao Long," Mercury instructed. Orion growled and Sirius bowed his head again.

"As you wish Mercury," Sirius said as he unsheathed his sword. Mercury left in the opposite direction with the Astra and Asteria. Orion took a deep breath as Sirius joined him and looked him over, noting how he was carrying his shoulder. "I tried to warn you." Orion shook his head, rotating his shoulder and seething as the pain shot through him in a certain position. "What are you gaining from putting on that act?" Orion gave him a blank expression and raised his eyebrow.

"Who said that I'm only putting on an act?" Orion asked. He formed a light orb and moved to where Mercury had discarded his gauntlet. "Can you let me know when they get here?" There was no response and as Orion turned around, he blocked Yang's fist at the last moment with his shield. It glanced off and she swung back around as he adjusted, diverting her fist away. He hadn't found his glove yet and without it, Yang would surely crush him in more way than one. "I'll take that as a no."

"Well, if it isn't Orion. If I remember correctly, you said something perverted about my daughter," Yang said. She slammed her fists off of his shield several times, driving him backward with every hit. "You didn't give us any information and we were pretty much done with you anyways, so if I hurt you, no one's going to care now."

"I meant it as more of a compliment if you really think about it," Orion told her. "I don't say that about every underage girl I meet." He pushed back with his shield and ran from her for a moment before she quickly caught up to him by launching herself towards him, throwing her arm up and clotheslining him. He landed on his back, groaning as he pulled his shield up over his body to block her barrage.

"You're not helping your case!" Yang shouted. Orion took a risky decision and created a concussive orb between the two of them, setting it off as he turned his face away and blocked most of it with his shield. His ears rang and he grunted as the blast caused him slight pain, but succeeded in throwing Yang back and distorting her vision. He was starting to agree with Sirius, if he hadn't fought Mercury, he'd be in better shape, but with how he was now if he pissed off the dragon, he was going to lose his aura and possibly his life. He found his knees and spotted the gauntlet. He enjoyed the idea of the challenge, but the odds were not in his favor by any means. He forced himself to his feet and stumbled over to the glove and slipped it on.

Of course, if he could make her angry enough, perhaps she would slip up. He assumed that was what happened with her arm, and wondered if he should wait to bait her or jump right into the fray. He weighed the options as her vision began clearing up and she gave him an evil grin.

"Think you're pretty clever?" Yang asked. "I'm part of Team RWBY. We destroyed Salem, Cinder, Taurus, and the Dragon. Do you really think that it's in your best interest to try and pick a fight with me? Just come back to the cell and tell us what you know and who knows, we can let you go if you behave." When she worded it that way, he had second thoughts as to whether or not he should try to run, but Mercury had instructed him before that he needed to defeat her. He swallowed hard. Here went nothing.

"That sounds great and all, but I think I need to pay your daughter and her friend a visit before too long. Wouldn't want them getting lonely and with them being off at school and whatnot, they're probably trying all sorts of new things and let's face it, they need a real man to teach them how it's supposed to be," he told her with a smug grin. Yang's jaw dropped almost unnoticeably and her eyes became intense, flickering from a purple towards a red.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, but your friend over there is going to be more than welcome to carve it on your gravestone!" Yang screamed out as she moved faster than before. She was at him before he had realized what was happening and her first blow connected, cracking a rib and breaking his aura, the exact opposite effect than he had hoped for. Perhaps this was going to be it. Perhaps this was the end for him. Maybe Mercury had been right when he said that he was nothing but talk. Her second blow was deflected with his hand as he grabbed her fist and redirected the energy as his armor absorbed it. He launched her back using his gravity and quickly pulled in light energy, blasting her away from him further. It danced down her mechanical arm and it locked up for a moment.

There was his silver lining. His light energy acted a lot like electricity, and where Mercury had modified his legs to defend against such a thing, Yang had never had a reason to. He drew in more as she charged again and quickly transferred it to the shield, watching as her fist met the metal, just to have her arm shut down once more. He chuckled and she looked up at him, glaring at him with her deadly red eyes and slamming him back repeatedly with one arm. The murderous intent in her eyes caused him to shudder as he slowly moved back towards one of the old building. He had an idea, but it wasn't a good one and it was exactly what Sirius had told him not to do before.

"Mrs. Arc is it, or is it still Nikos? Listen, I don't desire to fight you and my quarrel is neither with you or Mrs. Xiao Long. We simply wanted to free our acquaintance so that he could return to work with us. I realize that we've stolen a rather large sum of lien and Dust, but rest assured that petty crimes as such are normally taken care of by the police," Sirius explained as he blocked several blows from her spear, not yet taking the offensive.

"We were informed by Team RWBY that this is a matter of security in regards to Remnant as a whole," she told him as she batted his sword to one side with a mighty and swift blow, before knocking his feet out from under him. He rolled as he hit the ground, narrowly missing her shield as it planted into the earth and she pulled it back with her polarity.

"I'm not sure what it is that you're referring to ma'am, we are simply a group of thugs that are trying to get by and make ends meet. I'm guessing you can understand that," he told her as he blocked her shield as she threw it at him again. He grabbed the end of the sword and pulled on it, manipulating it into a whip which appeared to be made from a Grimm's spine. He whipped her shield off course as it came in a third time and it gripped her spear, pulling her in. "What do you mean by a matter of security to all of Remnant, we are but a small crime organization in Vale." She pushed off of him and retrieved her shield, directing it towards him first and letting it slam off of the back of his head. He reached up quickly and grabbed the back of his head, giving her enough slack in his weapon to allow her to pull the spear away with her semblance. She stood ready to attack again.

"That's all that I can say. I'm sorry," she told him. Sirius glanced over to where Orion had been but realized that his partner had relocated his battle somewhere else or had escaped and contemplating getting out as well.

"It has been an honor to fight the legendary Pyrrha Nikos, but I will have to bid you adieu. It would seem that my teammate has left and without him, it will be too far and dangerous for me to return to Vale alive. Farewell," Sirius told her. He broke the whip in half and the bones stiffened again, giving him a set of batons that he countered her spear with. He maneuvered her out of the way and his tail batted her shield away, allowing him to make a run for it. She fired at him as he hit all four and weaved between her shots as he headed for the exit, running on his hands and feet like a dog. He howled as he slid to a stop at the opening and peered back, smelling the air. "Dammit, Orion!" He turned back and headed towards the scent as the ground shifted.

"I'm going to kill you!" Yang screamed out through the silent underground and Sirius hit the ground like a dog again, it allowed him to move faster and made him more agile if he was attacked without warning. He spotted them before they noticed him and Orion had been backed against a larger building, his glove placed against it as he cowered behind his battered shield, Yang's blows were actually bending and twisting his defense. He planned on bringing the building down on them and was going to hope his gravity would be enough to keep the debris off of him, but Sirius could see how weak he was and knew that it wouldn't work.

"Orion!" Sirius yelled. "That is seriously a bad idea!" Orion chuckled as Yang looked back at him with crazed eyes. Sirius planted himself and leapt up to his feet as he formed his whip again.

"That's by far the best pun I've ever heard," Orion gasped. He drew his fist into the air and slammed it back, the gravity quickly spreading through the building and shattering most of the wall. Sirius whipped Orion, snaring his arm and pulling him past Yang as the building began to come down in a mighty rumble.

"That wasn't meant to be a pun," Sirius scolded him as he dragged him away quickly. He glanced back to watch the building meet the ground, the vibrations proving too much for the city and the ceiling of the massive cave began to come down as well, spelling out the permanent end of anything that remained of Mountain Glenn's civilization. "This is what I was afraid of!"

"I mean, it's not ideal…" Orion told him. Large sections earth dropped down from above and Sirius avoided them as he watched the falling debris and glanced periodically at the exit. He let go of Orion and the man collapsed to the ground as Sirius hit all fours and tore towards the opening.

"You want to prove yourself, Orion?!" Sirius called back. "Get out of here!" Orion's pain which had caused him to become dazed was instantly deafened by Sirius' words and he quickly formed himself into an orb of light, flying through the chaos and turning back as he fell through the hole in the wall, Sirius on top of him as the room behind them became dark, the other side of the entrance buried in stone. Sirius climbed off of Orion as he lay in the shallow water for a minute, letting what just happened set it.

"How did I do?" Orion asked. A boot slammed into his side stirring up pain again and he coughed up blood. Sirius glanced up at Mercury before looking back at Orion and shaking his head.

"Did you kill them?" Mercury asked. Orion continued to cough as he rolled onto his side and cradled his body for a moment in the mud. He was in more pain than he had ever been. One of his ribs was broken, his shoulder had been dislocated, but at least he had made it out with his life. Sirius stood.

"We were unable to. Orion brought the city down before we had a chance to finish the job," Sirius explained. Mercury scoffed and began to walk away, leaving them behind.

"Astra. Asteria. Come along," he told them. They looked at each other and then at Orion before smirking and following after Mercury.

"I really am pathetic, aren't I," Orion asked as he managed to sit.

"With the exception of bringing this group together, there isn't much you've done to help the cause. So by definition, I think it's safe to call you pathetic," Sirius agreed. Orion stared down at his hands and mangled shield.

"Thanks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems that Mercury's gang is up to no good. Are Yang and Pyrrha okay? Will this directly affect the students? Next week, the students face off against the teachers for training in Chapter 19 - 1v1!
> 
> A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	23. 1v1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team NITE has a series of 1 on 1 exercises against the teachers.

"You know what the greatest thing is about Fridays?" Eliana asked as she spun in circles, leading her teammates towards the training field coming from the dorms. Neela glanced over at Titus who was still working on some sort of reading assignment and then back at Ilia who was passionately tapping out something on her scroll before turning back to Eliana. Neela had to wonder what had happened a few days ago with Titus and Eliana. Eliana told them that she had been sworn to secrecy, but she informed them of a 'heart to heart' with Titus back at the dorm while they had been studying for their Grimm Studies exam, and now things seemed slightly different, in a good way. Titus was still more of a loner, but he didn't try to avoid doing things with the team now, even if he didn't always agree with the activity. Neela was in disbelief, perhaps Eliana's true semblance was the ability to fix people.

Or maybe it was just her signature smile. That was normally enough for Neela. She broke out of her thoughts and remembered that Eliana had asked a question, but no one else had answered it yet.

"What's the best thing about Fridays?" Neela asked. Eliana smiled and grabbed Neela by the arm.

"One-on-one training! I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like I get the most productive training done on Fridays!" Eliana exclaimed. Titus flipped the page in his book and stretched his shoulders.

"I prefer Saturdays," he told them. Ilia nodded as she continued to type away.

"Same," Ilia replied. Titus glanced over at her from his book and peered at her scroll. She pulled her scroll back towards her chest. "What?"

"Who are you messaging?" Titus asked. Ilia looked up at him with slight confusion and she could see Neela's smirk from the corner of her eyes.

"What's it matter to you?" She asked. Titus looked her in the eyes before returning back to his book. He shrugged.

"It doesn't. But if it did, maybe I just wanted to approve," he told her.

"Approve of what?" She asked slightly incredulous. Neela chuckled.

"I think that we should have to approve of your boyfriends. It's only fair, we are a team, right?" He replied. Ilia's face turned bright red and she couldn't find the words to tell him as Neela turned back to Eliana.

"I don't know what you did to him, but I approve," Neela told Eliana who laughed. Neela broke the awkward silence. "Anyways, what's better about Saturdays?"

"I prefer when we have our arena battles against other students. I've always been fairly competitive," Titus explained. Neela's mind returned to the initiation and the chaos that ensued as he rushed in without them.  _You don't say…_

"I prefer the arena too. Nothing against any of the teachers, I just feel more in my element when I'm against someone who isn't going to explain to me how to do better, but beat me and then I have to figure out what I could have done differently," Ilia added. As they crossed in front of the campus building, they were joined by Team CBLT, who was heading to study hall.

"How's Team NITE faring today?" Cobalt asked as he looked them over. His scanner picked something up and he smirked. "I have to wonder, and it's just something that I've picked up on the last couple of times that we've hung out, but how come your heart rate is elevated only when Eliana is around?" In an instant, Titus' book was nowhere to be found and he had his arm wrapped around Cobalt, saying something in his ear that caused him to become pale as he nodded furiously. Neela's face had turned beet red and Eliana turned back to face them.

"What was that I spaced out for a moment," Eliana told them. Cobalt swallowed as Titus patted him hard on the back and stepped away.

"Nothing. It was nothing," Cobalt replied. "You guys heading to one on one training?" Eliana nodded in her usual bubbly manner.

"Yep!" She piped up. "We'll see you guys later!" They separated and waved to each other as they reached the field and Eliana ran to the board to see who she was going to be paired up with for the day. Eliana glanced back at Neela who was the second to arrive and she looked for her name.

"Jaune huh?" Neela said as she looked for the other two. "Ilia, you're with Coco today!" She called back.

"Who am I going up against?" Titus asked. Neela looked it over again and found his name.

"Looks like you'll be against my mom!" Neela called out. Coco approached NITE and took a pen to the paper, crossing off Yang. "What's going on Coco?"

"Your mom is busy handling something off campus that came up this morning," Coco explained. "Titus will be fighting Nora instead." Titus twisted and pivoted on his back, listening to it crack as he loosened up.

"Fine by me," Titus replied.

"Neo again?" Eliana asked. Coco smiled.

"Neo mentioned that you did well last time. She said that you're one of her favorites from this class," Coco told Eliana as she walked away. Eliana shrugged and smiled at Neela.

"Oh well, she might not give me immediate feedback, but at least she keeps things interesting," Eliana told them. They walked over the short lull in the terrain, stepping onto a large grass field that looked similar to where a team might practice football.

"Neela, going first again today?" Jaune asked as they waited on the edge of the field. They all glanced at each other and shrugged, Neela chuckled and walked out to greet Jaune.

"I guess so," Neela told him. Eliana whooped and hollered as she sat on the bleachers with her teammates.

"You can take him Neela," Eliana called out. Neela blushed and Jaune extended his hand, shaking hers.

"I've been looking forward to this fight since your mothers told me that you had chosen to attend Beacon. I'm honored to have this opportunity. That your girlfriend?" Jaune asked her. She blushed again and shook her head.

"No, we're just good friends. I should say that the honor is all mine. I never imagined that I would be squaring off against the White Knight," she told him. Even if she had known him for years, they had never faced off against each other in combat. He chuckled.

"I think they give me too much credit," he laughed smiling warmly at her. He took a few steps back, setting his feet, his shield in front of him with his sword drawn behind him, slightly above shoulder level and pointing towards her. She set her feet as well, lightly gripping her sword also, holding it with both hands to her right side. She extended her index finger on her left hand past her wrist, prepared to make her opening move. He still smiled. "Ready?" She nodded.

He took off with speed that caught Neela by surprise but she was still able to quickly fire her grappling hook, her goal to disarm him and end the match quickly. He managed to block the hook with his shield and swung down at her as she quickly blocked above her head, struggling as he pushed down against her, a shockwave crashing off of them and indenting the field. Titus' eyes became wide as he moved forward on the bleacher. He nudged Ilia.

"He's not holding back," he whispered in her ear. Neela struggled for a moment longer against his sword until she was able to push him away and she leapt back, swinging her sword through the air for show and finding her stance again. Neela took a deep breath. He was strong and he was fast. With one arm, he was able to keep her from moving her sword as she pushed back with two hands and all of her strength. She would have to fight him with wit, or else she'd lose for sure.

"You can't assume that the surprise attack you tried is going to work," Jaune spoke as he moved back to his battle stance as well. "You invested too much in your hook and when it failed, you were ill prepared to block me. In an actual battle, you might not get that lucky."

"Was it that obvious?" Neela asked. Jaune smirked and dug his feet in.

"I can't reveal my secrets," Jaune replied. He took off once again and she quickly reached back, scraping the arrowhead against her sword blade and throwing it away, blocking his attack as he reached her. As his blade clashed off of hers, the gravity Dust that had adhered to her sword activated and threw his attacking arm back. He threw up his shield to block as she had hoped and as she brought her sword down to glance off of his defense she transformed it into its bow form, leaping up before he regained his balance and launching back off of his shield. As she flew through the air she quickly prepared an ice arrow using her touchpad and drew it back as she landed. She fired it and Jaune sliced the air, destroying it before it reached him.

Neela felt a moment of panic, wondering how she was supposed to fight him if long range wouldn't work and he was stronger than her by far when it came to attacking head-on. The Dust attack had caught him off guard, but he wouldn't fall for it again. She quickly strafed as he made an attempt to close the gap again, moving swiftly as she loaded air Dust onto an arrow and fired three of them at once, quickly loading gravity and firing two in rapid succession. He split the air again, this time setting off the air Dust arrows as he did so, disrupting his attempt to destroy the gravity arrows. The second activated early, throwing the first arrow even faster and it exploded as it made impact with his shield, throwing him backward.

He maintained his feet and smirked as he watched Neela carefully calculating her next move. She was as good as he expected and decided to see how hard she could push herself. He ran towards her again, charging behind his shield with alarming speed again and she unleashed another slew of arrows that this time seemed to have no effect. He was a few steps out and she switched her weapon back to its sword form, greeting his shield as he pushed her back several feet, her feet sliding across the ground. What was he doing? She attempted to push back and as she did, he rolled off of her, watching as she fell to the ground and dealing a blow to her back with his sword. She landed on her chest and took a deep breath, rolling over and seeing Jaune's hand extended to her.

"When an enemy is moving you like that, you should maintain your ground, not try and overpower him when it won't help. They'll do what I did and use your momentum against you," he told her as he helped her up. "One more bout?" She looked at him and gave a weak smile, nodding at him. She had one more idea and perhaps it would be enough.

"Ready when you are," she told him. She reached back and grabbed an arrow, holding it in her left hand as she held her sword in her right. She broke off the tip of the projectile and swung her sword through the air again, another simple display of grace with her weapon. She set herself as he did across from her and gripped her sword with two hands again, the same stances that they had taken up during their first spat.

"Go Neela!" Eliana called out cheering. Neela smiled and watched as Jaune charged her again. She tried the same attack as before with her grapple hook and just as he had the last time, he blocked it. She swung up in preparation to block his sword this time and spat out the arrow tip that she had held before, she had slipped it into her mouth during her swordplay. It caught Jaune's eyes and as he tried to stop his momentum she was able to turn from his sword and bat the arrowhead into him. The gravity Dust activated, throwing the shield out of his hands and throwing him onto his back. Neela turned away and grappled his shield with her hook, clutching it and standing over him in victory with her sword pointed down at him.

"I think we can call that a win, right Mr. Arc?" Neela asked. Jaune looked up at Coco who was heading over from the bleachers and trying to hide the fact that she was laughing as she adjusted her glasses for no reason.

"Yes, I think that we could call that a win Neela," Coco told her. "Thank you for that lovely display. You're going to do great things someday." Neela beamed at Coco, nodding and heading back for the bleachers.  _She's going to be just as good as her mothers, if not better._ "Who do we have next today? Hm?"

"I'm ready I suppose," Titus claimed as he stood and stretched one last time, moving to the field and waiting for Nora to join him, she was busy messaging someone on her scroll, but they all assumed it was Ren.

"I don't think you are ready!" Nora exclaimed with a wicked smile. "Prepare to be booped!" Neela snickered and leaned over to Eliana.

"I thought Titus was avoiding booping to focus on school work," Neela said. Ilia had overheard her and broke into laughter.

"Let's go, big guy!" Ilia called out. He smirked and looked over at the ladies, saluting them.

"Just watch and learn!" He called back. He removed his kopides and looked them over, he had recently had them modified to use multiple Dusts now, a barrel similar to that of a revolver's added just between the handle and blade for easy alternating of Dust. He swung them lightly and watched as Nora set herself, legs bent further than he would have expected, gripping her hammer with both hands. He grinned and nodded. "Ladies first."

Nora took him up on his offer and slammed her hammer against the ground, launching herself into the air and giving Titus a long moment to prepare. He crossed his blades and waited for her hammer to arrive, it crashed off of his swords as it did and drove him into the ground to his surprise as she fired it and drove through the blades, forcing him to lean back in order to miss her attack. As her hammer met the ground it freed his feet but she swung around faster than he expected and batted him away. He tumbled across the ground and found his feet as she was upon him again. He quickly switched to earth Dust and coated his blades and arms as she hammered him again.

This time he didn't move and managed to push her back, charging her as she swung back around again, laughing. He planted his blades in the ground, a large rock formation jutting up from the earth and greeting Magnhild, but the weapon refused to acknowledge his attempt to stop it and destroyed the stone, slamming into Titus who had stood back up. He left his feet for a long moment before landing on his back again and rolling over to his knees.

"This is fun, Coco! Why don't you let me train with the kids more often?" Nora called out. She walked over to Titus and reached her hand down. He looked at it for a couple of moments as his chest heaved before he took it and let her help pull him up. "A few things. When I was in the air, you had plenty of time to attack, but you assumed that blocking me would be better, not sure why, but, whatever. The second thing that I'll let you know is that you shouldn't underestimate the strength of your opponent. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean that I can't kick your ass, okay?" He looked at her with a kind of amazement and respect then nodded as his mind pieced together what had just happened.

"Okay," he replied. He stepped away and shook the shock out of his mind, trying to focus as he prepared himself again, he changed his blades to gravity. Perhaps he should have just stuck with that all along. She set herself again and smiled at him.

"Ready?!" She called out.

"Yes!"  _I hope so._  This time she swung her hammer around into its gun form and opened fire as he switched to ice and crashed the blades against each other, forming a wall of ice between him and the gunfire. The rockets slammed against the wall and he flipped his blades to fire, ready for her to charge in, breaking through the wall and being blown backward by the fire Dust. It was a solid plan, but the wall shattered while she still had two rockets left and they slipped through, catching Titus off guard, who was convinced that his plan was flawless. He dodged the first but the second exploded as it slammed into his chest and drove him back, he stumbled but quickly planted himself, knowing that she could be fast and would no doubt be on him in moments. Her hammer crashed off of his blades as he braced for her attack and caused an explosion, tossing her back.

She used her hammer to stop herself, landing on her feet and swinging her weapon over her head, smashing it against the ground. A wave of earth rose up and tossed Titus about as he countered with gravity Dust, sending the wave back at Nora who used the shifting earth to throw herself forward through the air, swinging hard and hitting Titus's blades again. She transformed Magnhild into its gun form and let Titus swing through her attack, landing and wrapping her arm around his neck and pulling him down, kneeing him in the face. The force was enough and he landed on his back, dazed and staring up at her. She pointed her gun down at him.

"If you keep underestimating me, you're going to keep losing. You didn't have a backup plan when I managed to break through your ice wall with just my rockets and that hurt you. If you're always so sure of your first defense, you're going to be defeated by someone who is faster or offensively adept every time. Not really sure what they taught you in Atlas. Confidence is good to have, but being overly confident isn't going to help you at all." She reached down and helped him to his feet again. "Care to go once more?" Titus nodded, this time he had a foolproof plan.

"Sure, we can go one more time," he replied. He looked down at his scroll and noted his aura. He still had half of it left, nothing for him to worry about as far as that was concerned. He wasn't sure how she was able to do it, but she had powered through every one of his defenses so far, but there was no way that she could escape this last attack. He smirked to himself and prepared once more. He wouldn't need to defend this time, the match would be over before she could reach him because this attack was absolute. It worked on both people and technology, as he had experience with it in the past. "Again, ladies first." Nora sneered.

Before Nora could close half the distance, Titus adjusted his kopides and slammed them into the ground, the first spraying water up from under the earth and the second electrifying it, sending a massive shock through Nora. He knew it wouldn't be enough to kill her, but it would do quite a number on her aura and he would be able to declare himself the victor. He chuckled as he looked at his blades and began to walk towards his victim, but was stopped in his tracks. Nora was still standing, and traces of lightning danced off of her body and armor. Her eyes struck him with terror and before he could blink she was directly in front of him, her hammer nailing him in the chest and instantly breaking his aura as he was thrown across the field and landed only a few feet from the bleachers.

When he finally came to a stop he remained completely motionless, staring up at the sky. Had Atlas taught him wrong all along? Were there actually people out there that would be able to get in through his defenses and make a fool of him? His chest heaved but he refused to try and sit, knowing that it would bring extra pain.

"I think that Titus just received a lesson on the word 'assume'," Nora told them. "Once he learns better defense, I'd like to take him on again." Nora nodded at Coco who smiled at her and stood above Titus, looking down at him. His expression didn't change and his lungs were still working as hard as possible to breathe as he tried to calm down. He looked at his hands and felt relieved. His aura had broken, but he hadn't changed this time. That was what he feared more than losing. Nora left and headed back to the class that she needed to teach next.

"Two down, two to go," Coco told them. Eliana finally climbed down from the bleachers despite Neela's protests and checked on Titus.

"Are you okay?" She asked Titus. He glanced up at her and nodded.

"Didn't expect such strength from her," he gasped. "I'll be fine." Eliana helped him sit up and Coco pointed at Ilia.

"Ready to go Ilia?" Ilia leapt to her feet and grabbed her guns off of her hips, strapping them onto her arms.

"Sure, why not?" Ilia walked to the field with Coco as Eliana and Neela helped Titus up into the bleachers and sat him down gently. Ilia looked at Coco, unable to read her eyes due to the sunglasses and Coco smirked as she gripped her purse in her hand. Her finger lightly flicked against the handle on occasion as Ilia's fingers caressed her triggers, prepared to attack at the drop of a pin. Assuming that she could get in close, Ilia fancied the thought that she'd be more agile with her knives than Coco could be with her purse, but after watching Nora own Titus, Ilia no longer presumed that this would be that easy of a fight. Another minute passed, both combatants content with trying to read the other's thoughts.

"Has the fight started already?" Eliana asked. "Is Coco a telepath?" Neela shook her head.

"No, they're just waiting for the other to show their hand," Neela explained. Ilia finally pulled the trigger, firing directly at Coco who blocked a portion of the bullets with her purse before backflipping away, transforming her box into a minigun, opening fire on Ilia who had begun moving. She strafed just in front of the bullets, determined to close the gap between her and Coco, she grabbed a handful of Dust out of her pocket, throwing it and watching it drift away with no effect. Ilia fired back, forcing Coco to move and arc out in the same direction, so that they were making a large circle and running from each other, maintaining a constant distance. This was the desired effect and as Coco reached the spot that Ilia had released the Dust, one of her gunshots ignited it and she was thrown back from the fire Dust.

Ilia slid to a halt and tore towards Coco who landed on her back but immediately leapt to her feet, just to be greeted by Ilia's blades swiping out at her. Coco batted away her hands, turning her gun back into a purse, and slamming it into Ilia's chin. Ilia swung her hand out wide as she was falling, a mad attempt to catch Coco's hand, but the woman was wearing gloves and Ilia's attempt failed. She hit the ground and rubbed her chin as she tried to get up quickly so that Coco wouldn't feel the need to call the first match. She swung back around to face Coco who was pressing the attack instead of preparing to tell Ilia that she'd been defeated. Ilia took the hit from the purse with her guns, but it still caused her to slide back.

Ilia reached back, swapping out her magazines with fresh ones that were attached around her hip, something she was trying to reduce her reload times. She unloaded the barrage of gravity bullets on Coco but she blocked them all with her purse and showed no sign of being moved. Coco smiled again, and shifted the handbag back into the gun and preparing to open fire, riddling Ilia as she had taken off running. She hit the ground and tumbled to a stop, looking at Coco who sauntered over confidently, pointing her gun directly at the girl.

"How did you get me that time?" Ilia asked as she let Coco assist her with standing up. Coco smirked.

"I'm guessing that you're a better shot if you're leading with your right side," Coco told her. "Don't let your opponent notice those things, if you set up repeat scenarios, you have to make sure that you don't have any tendencies that might make you vulnerable. Care to go again?" Ilia thought it over and shook her head.

"I'm good, thanks Mrs. Adel," Ilia told her. Coco smirked and shook her head.

"Go text him, that's what you're doing instead, right?" Coco asked. Ilia brushed off the question and walked away. She turned back to the bleachers. "It's all up to you Elli! Let's see what you've got against Neo. The teachers are 6 for 7 today, see if you can at least take one win from Neo." Neo appeared next to Coco and curtsied, smiling as she watched Eliana climb down from her seat.

"You can beat her, Elli!" Neela called out. Eliana smiled back and waved.

"Thanks, Neela!" She called back.

"Mrs. Adel, how is this class graded again," Titus asked as his body had now almost completely recuperated.

"Attendance and effort. Show up, try hard, get a good grade, that easy," Coco explained. Eliana moved to the middle of the field with Neo and removed her guns, spinning them lightly around her finger, ready for the fight to begin. She had faced Neo the week before and had been beaten brutally, but Eliana had trained hard the entire week and was determined to get a win against the former assassin. Neo wouldn't have it so easily this time. Neela noticed the change in Eliana's eyes and looked at the other two.

"For someone so happy go lucky, her eyes are very intense when she's fighting," Ilia told Neela as she noticed it too.

"That's just how Elli has always been, fun loving in everyday life, but prepared to fight anyone who would try and take that away from her," Neela told them. Eliana waited for a long moment.

"Are you ready, Neo?" Eliana asked. Neo nodded and smiled. "Let's do this!"

Eliana quickly lifted the pistols and fired off several shots that burst against the parasol and scattered away as they dispersed against Neo's defense. She let down her parasol, reaching Eliana in three quick front flips, landing in front of her and kicking for the girl's side. Eliana batted her leg down and she switched her weight, leaping onto the foot that had been blocked and kicking out with the other, but it was also blocked by Eliana's other hand. Neo smirked for a moment as this block shattered her and she appeared behind Eliana. Eliana threw up a force field behind herself that Neo's parasol hook slid off of and she turned her body to face the instructor, firing two shots of ice bullets which stuck Neo's umbrella to the ground.

Eliana moved in to attack but Neo leapt, gripping her weapon and kicking hard, her feet planting in Eliana's chest. She leapt off of the girl, sending her reeling, and freeing the parasol as she slid to a stop. Neo looked at her umbrella, glancing back up at Eliana, truly impressed. Eliana was already set again, her weapons aimed.

"Wow," Neela said. Ilia looked down at her.

"That's putting it lightly. Eliana got annihilated last week against Neo," Ilia replied. Neela was impressed as well. Eliana had always told Neela that she and her father both shared the ability to adapt quickly to any situation, but this was something on an entirely different level. Had Eliana been holding this back this entire time just to impress her or the teachers? Neo was now teleporting sporadically around Eliana, but no matter where she teleported and tried to attack from, Eliana was able to block her. Neo backflipped away and slid to a stop as Eliana fired at her again, the earth bullets slamming into several clones as it appeared that Eliana was predicting her movements.

Neo swung her parasol hard, forcing Eliana to catch her weapon and she let it go, teleporting to the other side of Eliana before teleporting back to the same spot she had been before, She leapt up, slamming her feet against Eliana but was greeted moments before by a force field. She landed several feet away as Eliana swapped the hand that she gripped the umbrella with, nailing Neo with an ice bullet and freezing her. Everyone stood in shock for a long moment before Coco walked over to the two of them and looked Neo over. She glanced at Eliana.

"I have to call this. Eliana wins." Coco said. "I've never seen Neo push it this hard before." Neela and Ilia leapt off of the bleachers, leaving behind Titus who was still trying to regain his wits. Neela grabbed the parasol away from Eliana and tossed it aside, grabbing her and spinning her around.

"Elli, that was insane!" Neela shouted as she put Eliana back down. Eliana laughed sheepishly.

"That was pretty awesome, wasn't it?" Eliana asked them. She looked over at Ilia before looking back at Neela and squinting. "Why is everything spinning?" Neela raised her eyebrow as Eliana fell flat on her chest, Neela quickly hitting her knees and rolling her over.

"Elli? Elli?! Mrs. Adel!"

* * *

Eliana woke up on a cot in the small room of the nurse's office, Neela sitting on a chair beside her and working on her reading material for their Dust Studies class.

"I'm guessing you want me to explain what happened?" Eliana spoke softly as she sat up. Neela startled and set her book down on the nightstand beside the bed moving closer.

"Elli, what the hell?! You owned Neo in that fight, she could barely even touch you!" Neela searched Eliana's eyes and she was given a sheepish grin before she looked away and stared off into the hallway. "Elli?"

"My dad was adaptive, I've always said that. What I just did out there isn't easy for me to do, as my passing out would suggest. I can use my forcefield abilities to detect movement, it's like I'm making an incredibly thin barrier and I can feel everything that touches it. Dad was amazing at doing it, it's what gave him the upper hand and made him so incredible in fights. I decided that using it against Neo would be the best way to show that I could be just like him, but I should have known that it was overdoing it," Eliana explained.

"Elli, you don't have to push yourself like that to show people that you're his daughter. You do it best when you're just being yourself, that's what he would want," Neela told her. Eliana nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, I know." Neela smirked and nudged Eliana.

"That was pretty awesome…" Neela admitted.

"I know, right?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The kids of Team NITE are beginning to grow, but what has CBLT been up to? Next week, Chapter 20 - Fantasy?
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE. 
> 
> Sa-Dui's artwork of Neela is our newest addition to the collection, check it out!
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	24. Fantasy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teams NITE and CBLT seem to be on a special mission in Shion Village, but is everything as it seems?

Shion village. Torn down roughly 25 Years ago, after being rebuilt by the Remnant Peace Council, was back to the state it had been in originally. It was a nice place to stay for a vacation, but it was an even better place to gather intel and details on any activity that was happening in Mistral. This mission was one of the most important and secretive that had been assigned to any huntsman or huntress in years, he was honored that they chose him, though clearly, he was the only candidate who was worthy of the job. In the four short years that he had spent at Beacon, Cobalt had become the strongest huntsman in all of Remnant and had led an endless number of successful missions with his team. They were the obvious choice. The night was beginning to fade into the morning and the rain was still slowly pelting the ground outside of the tents that they had set up the day before.

"Hey," came a voice near Cobalt as he slowly opened his eyes to find Ilia lying on his chest, wearing nothing but a black push up bra and boy short panties. He smirked as she ran her finger over his chest and smiled up at him, climbing up to gently kiss his lips. "Did you sleep well?"

"As I recall," he replied chuckling "We didn't sleep that much last night." He sat up and stretched as she slid off of him and reached over to retrieve his clothing, handing it to him as she reached for her bag. "Aren't you worried that the others might get jealous?" She looked back at him over her shoulder as she brushed her hair and gave a sigh of amusement. How had he been thrust into such an advantageous position?

"Let them be jealous," she told him. After a few long moments they had finished getting prepared, and Cobalt stepped out of the tent, peering through the tree line at Shion, watching as the villagers began about their day, and the bartender opened up shop. The tavern was their target location, that was where he was to meet their contact and keep him busy long enough until he either caved and gave them the information that they needed, or he tried to run and was caught by one of his teammates. Eliana exited her tent first, kissing him on the cheek before standing beside him and peering out to meet his gaze.

"You smell like Ilia's perfume," Eliana told him. He glanced over at her before scanning the village again with his scope. She was perceptive, but he expected nothing less.

"Nothing gets past you El," he told her. She chuckled and turned back to her tent.

"Pencil me in for tonight?" She asked. He grinned and looked back at her as she unzipped the opening.

"What about Neela?" He asked. She gave him a coy smile. It was no secret that Neela and Eliana had been an item for a few years now.

"I'm sure she'd be more than happy to join us. After all, it wouldn't be our first ménage à trois." He watched as she disappeared into the tent and shook off the chill that had overcome his spine. At that moment Lykos and Titus joined him and Lykos moved into the woods as he had spotted their target, something that Cobalt's scanner would inform him of a couple of moments later. He was amused at the man's appearance, shirtless, with only a shield and a gauntlet. Orion Nova. One of the heads of the Mercury's Gang, he was here to meet with members of the Mistral Military, the most likely reason being that Mercury was planning on buying or stealing assets from Mistral, which was typical. It wasn't the first time that Mercury had acquired such weaponry, and the Council had asked them to put a stop to it.

This was the best chance that they would ever have to find Mercury once and for all, and find out who he was working for. At this point in Cobalt's mind, this was the only chance. Taking that attitude towards the situation always forced him into a position of perfection, truly believing that the future of Remnant hung in the balance with every mission they agreed to.

"He's been giving both the Mistral and Atlas Military the run around for a long time," Titus informed him as he bent down to stretch. "I can't say that this is going to be as easy as going in there and just getting the information. I get the feeling that we might have to detain him."

"I think we should be just fine, and if not, I have the rest of you to back me up as usual," Cobalt explained to him. "Lykos and Bái will wait out here in the woods to ambush him if he tries to make a run for it. Neela and Eliana will wait atop the watchtower nearest to camp to pick him off if he makes it past them. You'll enter in shortly after me and order a drink, making you our first line of defense before he can leave the building. Lastly, Tawney and Ilia will block the town's two gates as some final added security."

"He can be a tricky one," Neela added as she and Eliana rejoined the group. "Elli and I have tried to take him down before with no luck." Cobalt nodded and made his way through the woods, making sure to make eye contact with Lykos so that he knew they were beginning the mission. Cobalt stepped into the pub and sat down at a table close to the center of the first floor, nodding at one of the waitresses as she smiled at him in passing. It was cozy and had a nice to feel to it, He waited for a long couple of minutes, ordering a shot of whatever the server wanted to bring him, before slamming it and watching as Titus entered. He left his seat without acknowledging his teammate, brushing past him and making it a point to bump into him so that it didn't appear as though they knew each other. Titus glanced back at him for a moment, grinding his teeth and doing everything in his power to avoid looking towards where the contact should be, continuing to the bar. Cobalt headed upstairs to where Orion was meant to be waiting.

He headed up the stairs, spotting Orion who was simply staring straight ahead as if his mind was lost out in space in some sort of fantasy and he couldn't be bothered with the reality around him. The man had clearly been at it for quite some time. If Cobalt hadn't been privy to the information that had been released to him, he would have assumed Orion for just another drunkard who was getting started far too early in the morning. Cobalt sat down at the table, not bothering to say anything to his informant until he had been acknowledged by the man. Orion gave a sideways smirk before he stood and attempted to walk away, prompting Cobalt to grab his arm. Orion tried to free himself before shoving back against Cobalt.

"I'd advise that you remove yourself from my person, or things are going to get extremely messy," Orion instructed as Cobalt permitted him to free his arm. "I'm waiting for someone and you don't quite fit the bill."

"Mistral Military, right?" Cobalt asked. Orion was intrigued and rightly so, deciding to sit down and hear the man out.

"You don't look the part," Orion told him as he took a large swig from the stein before him.

"This is Mistral. Everyone is looking for information and dirt on anything they can so that they can make some quick lien. If I had dressed in my uniform, you can guarantee that Stratford would have known about my betrayal by the end of the day. Let's cut to the chase unless you aren't interested anymore." Orion smiled and reached down beside his seat under the table, lifting up a small briefcase and setting it on the table, opening it and revealing more lien than Cobalt had ever seen in his lifetime.

"Mercury is incredibly interested in what you have to offer, as well as the rest of us in Vale. Time to uphold your end of the bargain," Orion told him with a slight smirk and Cobalt became skeptical. "Cobalt." Cobalt remained motionless for a long moment before Orion shoved the money towards Cobalt and teleported back as a light orb. The case exploded, splintering the table and throwing debris everywhere, causing a distraction as one of the waitresses screamed from downstairs and several of the patrons startled, panicking and moving quickly to leave the building. Titus came up the stairs as quickly as he could to find Cobalt who had formed his sword and slid back on his feet.

"They knew we were coming!" Cobalt shouted.

"Obviously! Where is he?!" Titus asked.

"He teleported down!" Cobalt exclaimed as he leapt over the banister, landing on one of the tables and rolling off onto the floor. Titus swung his blades, ice Dust blasting away from him and slamming into the door, sealing it shut and forcing Orion to appear. He immediately absorbed the remainder of the light energy into his glove and blasted Cobalt back who deflected it with his sword, placing his shield against the ice barricade and unleashing his gravity attack, shattering through and sprinting out.

"Still feeling confident in this plan?" Titus asked. Cobalt gritted his teeth and waited for Titus to leap down.

"He still has to get through 6 more people," Cobalt told him. "I'm thinking that we still have the upper hand."

Orion took off out of the building and headed towards the woods in hopes to break Cobalt's line of sight which would allow him to distance himself from the two of them and escape without any trouble. As he entered the forest, a large Beringel blindsided him and batted him away. As he bounced across the earth his gauntlet dug in, helping him to slide to a stop as he found his weapon frozen to the ground. He lifted his shield above him, slamming it down and freeing himself as he leapt back, backflipping and narrowly missing several large ice pikes that extended up from the earth, each one large enough to impale him with ease.

"I see Cobalt brought along the rest of his team. This should be quite enjoyable then," Orion told them as Lykos and Bái came down from their perch in the treetops. Bái was covered in partial armor that was made of ice and her eyes were almost completely white with the exception of a blue tint. "So this is Vale's Demon?" Lykos moved in quickly, attempting to strike with his whip, but Orion caught it and tossed it away. "She a touchy subject for you?"

"You must think that you're pretty untouchable," Lykos told him smugly.

"I have every right to think that way, none of you have been able to touch me yet," Orion replied. His eyes grew wide for a moment as an arrow struck him in the back and he hit the ground, landing flat on his chest, unable to move. "What did you do?"

"Don't like that one much?" Neela asked as she sauntered over with Eliana hanging off of her arm. Eliana giggled. "That's a new one that I've been working on for a quite a while now. Uses very precise electrical impulses to paralyze the victim." Orion chuckled as his finger twitched on his left hand.

"Electrical you say?" He asked for clarification. His hand rolled over and an enormous amount of lightning blasted into Bái causing her to scream out in pain and hit the ground, convulsing and retching massively as Lykos turned towards her, kneeling beside her quickly. Her screaming continued and Orion stored up another blast, launching it high into the air and teleporting away from them. Cobalt and Titus ran over as they saw what happened.

"Bái!" Lykos shouted out as he gathered her into his arms.

"Is she okay?" Cobalt asked. Cobalt knelt beside the two of them and brushed the hair out of her face as the blue faded from her eyes. The ice that shielded her body shattered off and scattered away from her as she weakly reached up and touched Cobalt's face.

"I'm sorry Cobalt-Senpai," she managed. "I wasn't able to stop him. I failed you." Cobalt shook his head as he clung to her hand and shook his head.

"Bái, you're going to be okay," Cobalt tried to reassure her. She smiled slightly, looking up at Lykos and pulling him in gently for a kiss before he felt the life leave her body. Lykos shook as he slowly dropped her on the ground, shaking more and more violently until finally, he transformed into a large dragon looking Grimm, sweeping around and slamming his tail into Neela and Eliana, Eliana protecting them with a forcefield.

"Lykos?!" Cobalt demanded as he rolled away, Lykos attempting to stomp him into the ground. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"This is all your fault!" Lykos shouted out.

"I think the better question here is what the hell are you doing Cobalt?" Tawney asked.

* * *

Cobalt looked up from the textbook in front of him and glanced back at Tawney who was holding a half-eaten sandwich in her hand.

"Were you daydreaming?" She asked. He blushed slightly and turned back towards his work.

"What?" He asked. "No, of course not, don't be crazy." He began scribbling on his notebook, doodles, and complete gibberish as she stood behind him, staring at him in disbelief, her hip cocked as she took another bite of her sandwich. "I was just doing some work and thinking about some upgrades for the team."

"Who the hell narrates their fantasies out loud like that anyway?" She asked. "And a harem, really?"

"So?" He asked. He looked back at her, her gaze still fixed on him. "How long have you been standing there?"

"The whole time. I knocked and everything and you were just mumbling on about a special mission. You said something about Ilia being in nothing but her lingerie, and I was hesitant to enter at first, but then I realized this  _is_  you we're talking about and decided to come in. That paired with the fact that I could hear Lykos snoring. You're not that bold," She told him. "And why wasn't I included in the harem?"

"You were defending the gate on the far end of the city!" He exclaimed. They exchanged a long awkward glance before he turned away again. "It was just a daydream. I always thought it would be awesome to be the star of an action movie or anime or something like that."

"There has to be a reason that Ilia was the one in bed with you," She prodded as she sat beside him at her own desk. "Unrequited love?" Cobalt stood up and moved to the bathroom, taking off his shirt and washing his face, getting ready to brush his teeth and head to bed.

"I don't know if I would call it that," he called back to her from the other room. "Ilia has hardly even acknowledged me, to be honest. I think the last time she had a direct conversation with me was when we got pizza the night of the initiation. She asked me to pass the breadsticks." Tawney chuckled and unzipped her backpack, pulling out her studying material for her economics class. "Maybe it was just more the fact that Ilia isn't taken."

"I'm not either!" Tawney declared. She folded her arms and he chuckled nervously.

"You're not really my type," he told her. She rolled her eyes.

"But you're attracted to  _her_ , aren't you?" Tawney asked. He gargled his mouthwash, spitting it out and checking himself over in the mirror.

"Well yeah, but I don't stand a chance with someone like her, do I?" He asked her. He moved to the doorway and she glanced over at him before looking away flush. She couldn't tell him that, there were things about his personality that could be considered off-putting, but his body was an entirely different story. She had to admit that he had the looks, and if he could stop being such a nerd, he'd be a really great catch.

"I think the best comparison that I can make to help you out in this situation is between me and Neela," Tawney told him.

"You have a thing for Neela?" He asked. Her eyes grew wide and she shook her head.

"What?! No!" She exclaimed. He shrugged and ducked back into the bathroom for a moment.  _I'd find that incredibly hot,_ he thought.

"How so then?" He asked. She paused for a moment and looked back at the empty bathroom doorway.

"I'm always trying to be better than Neela, no matter what it takes. I've never beat her yet, but I think that as long as I keep trying my hardest, I'll eventually be able to beat her. I don't let the constant defeats deter me," she explained. "Think of Ilia the same way. She's not so far out of your reach that you aren't able to get her, you just might have to get through being turned down a few times first. If she says no, what do you lose? Things might be a little awkward between the two of you, but it's not like you're talking now anyway. Man up!" He went silent in the bathroom for a moment and she waited for a reply.

"So you think I should ask her out?" He asked.

"She's single! Why the hell not man?! We're at the Academy now, this is going to be the greatest four years of our lives!" She exclaimed. Cobalt thought it over and he was convinced. Tomorrow night he would man up, grow a pair, and ask Ilia to go on a date with him. It would sure beat the hell out of fantasizing about her on a regular basis… a healthy basis… why was he trying to convince himself it was healthy?

"Speaking of you and Neela, I have a proposal for Team NITE for tomorrow morning, and I think you might take a liking to it," Cobalt told her as he pulled on a plain white t-shirt and came out, lying in his bed as he checked his scroll and answered a message.

"Oh?" She inquired interestedly.

"Just waiting for a reply back from Neela…"

* * *

"Tell me again whose idea it was to go to the shopping district of Vale on a Friday night?" Titus asked as he held the door open and the women poured in with all of their shopping bags. "You three spent enough lien to put a Schnee to shame. I vote that we sleep in tomorrow morning." Ilia was the next one in behind him, setting her bags down on her bed and sitting in the middle of them.

"It was your idea, remember?" She pointed out as she immediately removed her scroll.

"My idea?" He asked incredulously. She looked up from her device and raised an eyebrow to him. "I was thinking it was going to be a quick trip there and back, all that  _I_  needed was some Dust!"

"It would have been, but you decided to invite the three of us to go with you," Neela explained. "I advise taking Lykos or Cobalt next time." Neela reached back and took Eliana's bags from her and placed them all directly into the closet, climbing up her bunk and laying in bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I guess I didn't expect us to be there that long considering the fact that my family was relatively poor," he told them. "And if they're my only other choices, I think that I'd rather do alone." Titus left them and entered the bathroom, locking the door behind him so that he could take a shower.

"Maybe we shouldn't have spent so much. At this rate, I'm going to need a job by the end of the first semester," Ilia told the girls. Eliana glanced up at Neela, giving her a smile before climbing into her own bed below and flipping through her book to where she'd left off.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" Eliana asked Neela as she settled in. Neela thought it over for a moment as she found a message from Blake asking her if she'd be over for dinner Saturday night. She replied, saying that she'd be over with Eliana and closed her scroll, putting it back in her pocket, focusing on her ceiling once again. "Sleeping in doesn't sound like an awful idea."

"Well, we don't have any classes or training tomorrow. We could just study in the afternoon," Ilia offered. Neela felt her scroll vibrate in her pocket and removed it, reading the message from Cobalt and then looking down at Ilia with a slight look of confusion. "What is it?"

"How does capture the flag against Team CBLT tomorrow sound?" Neela asked. Eliana leapt off of her bed and into the middle of the room, jumping up and down and looking up at Neela.

"Can we?! That sounds amazing!" Eliana shouted. Neela smiled at Eliana, glancing across the room at Ilia and shrugging. Ilia smirked and rolled her eyes.

"I guess it might be fun," Ilia replied. She cupped her mouth and faced the bathroom. "Titus, we're having a capture the flag match against Team CBLT tomorrow!"

"What if I decline?!" He called back to her.

"You don't get a choice!" Ilia replied. Titus sighed and Eliana laughed as she climbed back into bed, pulling her covers up and rolling over to face the wall. She hoped that sleep would come quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, Cobalt is quite the big deal inside of his own head. Next week, a hero rises from the East, but will she be tricked into joining the Fang? Chapter 21 - Mattachanna!
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	25. Mattachanna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We head to Menagerie to see what the Faunus on the island are up to and meet a new character with a long journey ahead of her.

Mattachanna Awinita sat on the steps of the meeting house, her fingers tapping against the wood of her staff as she waited for the leaders to adjourn. She had been in total disbelief since the announcement had reached their village hidden deep in the desert of Menagerie. Outside of the village itself, only the Belladonna's were aware of its existence. So there was a slight panic in Kimi when they had received word that the leaders at Menagerie Port had agreed to allow the Schnee Dust Company to mine in the desert. What had they been thinking? Granted, even if Atlas had offered them protection, which wasn't something they really needed, what else could they have offered? Lien? The people of Menagerie were doing fine, they didn't need lien either.

The great doors of the building were thrown open and the members poured out past Matachanna as she leapt to her feet and turned to look for Ghira. She was sure that he would be able to clear everything up for her and then she could return home with her mind at ease. She ran to him quickly as he had just stepped out of the house and attempted to tackle him as she hugged him and he chuckled as he swept her up and twirled her around.

"Awinita! What brings you to town today?" He asked her laughing as he placed her back on her feet. He looked her over. She had brown hair with a tuft of white highlighting her bangs that offset her forest green eyes, always wide with wonder and awe. She wore a dark green, long sleeve v-neck that hugged her frame but only on the left side, meeting at a point around her middle finger in a sort of glove. The right side of her body was covered in a light brown dress that came up to her shoulder, three leather straps running across her chest to make sure it stayed in place and kept her bosom concealed, the lantern sleeve open at the wrist. It ended mid-thigh, her legs covered with tan leggings which met her dark green boots, accented with white fur along the top. "You've really grown up, haven't you. I remember when you didn't even come up past my knees. Did you run into any Pukwudgies or Cerastes on the way here?"

"No I didn't, thankfully." She looked over the staff in her hand, gnarled wood that twisted around itself until it reached the top where it held a glowing rock in place, roughly the size of a large egg, and shaped similarly too. It gave off a dark black energy that drifted gently off of the gem-like smoke, steadily whisking away. "I think we would have been able to take them."

"You brought Bjorn with you?" Ghira asked. She nodded and he smiled at her as he wrapped his left arm over her shoulder and walked down the path with her. "What your tribe did with that mysterious technology has always fascinated me. Perhaps the two of you would like to stay in town tonight and join Kali and I for dinner? We'd love to have you and catch up." Awinita laughed, she was honored but she had only come to the port for one reason, and as soon as she got her answers, she would be able to be on her way.

"As much as I would love to, I really need to get back home as soon as possible. It's the end of the harvesting season and with mother and father both being ill this year, I've had to work twice as hard to make sure that the tribe will have something to eat. I actually came here to ask you about the SDC coming into mine in the desert," she told him. He raised an eyebrow and released her, looking down at her.

"What's that?" He inquired.

"What are they offering us?" She asked. "Why after all of this time would we decide that it's okay for Atlas to come in here and tear the place up? You know what they used to do to the White Fang. You've heard about how they treat their Faunus employees. This is a safe haven for Faunus, but you're allowing them to come here and start digging." Ghira grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes as she wrenched away.

"Awinita. The world is a different place than it was when your grandparents were sent to this island after the war. We need to strengthen our relationship with the humans, and the best way to do so is for both parties to show a mutual trust towards each other. The Schnee Dust Company is now run by Weiss, who as you know, is my daughter's sister-in-law. She has taken the company in a completely different direction than her father, and I think that you're going to find that we can be of use to each other. Much like Vacuo, most of this island is covered in a desert which makes it a prime location for excavating Dust from the earth. They're going to give us some of it in exchange for using the land," Ghira explained.

"But it's our land!" She protested. Ghira sighed and thought about the situation for a moment before reaching into his pocket giving her a rather large handful of lien. She took it and looked it over with wide eyes. "What's this for?"

"It's obvious to me that my word isn't going to be good enough. I want you to go and see it first hand. I'll send some of my men to Kimi to help with the harvest, but I want you to travel to Atlas and talk to Weiss Schnee. Have her give you a tour of their facilities, make her show you how the Faunus are treated now that she's in charge. That should be enough lien to get you there and allow you to stay for a few days before coming back. I'll tell Blake to let Weiss know to expect you," Ghira told her. Awinita looked it over for a long moment before looking back up at him.

"I believe you Ghira, but it's safer to stay here. I'm not sure that I want to leave the island," She argued. He crouched slightly so that he was eye level with her.

"Of course you do. You've always told me how unfair it is that after the war the Faunus were forced to stay here. If you think it's so unfair, go! See what the rest of the world has to offer. If you don't like what you find, you are always free to return," he informed her. She searched his eyes and nodded slightly. She would go and talk to Weiss, hoping to persuade the woman to leave their land and look for her Dust elsewhere.

"Thank you Ghira!" She exclaimed. She threw her arms around him and he chuckled as they hugged again.

"You'd better get going if you plan on making the last ship out of here today!" He told her. She released him and began running down the path towards the docks. "Let's have dinner when you get back, okay?" She laughed as she waved back to him.

"Yes! That sounds great!" She shouted. She turned back and ran to the market, standing in the middle of it for a long moment before she headed back towards the direction she had come from. She had almost forgotten Bjorn! She trailed off of the path, stopping at the tree line that separated the rest of Port Menagerie from the desert and the dangers that it brought with it. That was where she had left Bjorn.

When the tribe had been sent to the desert at the end of the Great War to determine whether or not it would be possible to inhabit the area, a select few had managed to survive long enough to find a heavily wooded area that was close to the center of the island. It was a secret that only they knew about, and they intended to keep it that way, finding an ancient technology that had predated the kingdoms, or so it seemed. Machines that had been created out of a conductive and dark black metallic material, constructed to look like Grimm. The people cultivated lightning Dust and found ways to make them run and work, using them as their own. The machines helped harvest the land, defend the people from Grimm and other various activities. Awinita's primarily took the form of an Ursa and had been her companion since the chief had deemed her old enough to operate one.

"Bjorn!" She called out. He slowly lumbered over to her and she moved through the brush to him, rubbing his neck and placing her hands on him, pulling him down slightly to view the small power indicator in the middle of his back. Almost empty. She lifted her staff above her head, it gathered energy from the air around it and glowed more and more intensely until she slammed it against her mech, black lightning blasting out from it and dancing across Bjorn. He roared as his eyes lit up red as they normally did and he swung his body away. It was more than enough to keep him energized for the rest of the day. "Ready to go?" He nodded.

Awinita boarded the ship with her pseudo-Grimm, after much protesting from the captain, and headed towards the Vale coastline. It was her task now. She was the only one who would be able to stop the Schnee Dust Company.

* * *

How long had she been traveling with Bjorn now? It must have been close to a week, and she hoped that she was approaching the northern border of Vale sooner than later. She had never anticipated that she would be gone for so long and everything in her wanted her to turn back now. What if they didn't finish the harvest in time? What if she didn't make it back before winter began? She didn't want her tribe to suffer just because she felt as though she was on some sort of diplomatic mission to save the island and maintain her pride. Perhaps Ghira was right. If she went back now, she was sure that she could get back to Menagerie before they needed her.

She looked down at Bjorn, she rode him on the paths and through woods in between towns and settlements and had him hide whenever they approached one and she had to ask for directions. He was able to travel much faster than she was, and was more than happy to carry her. She sighed. She should just head back.

"Alright, Bjorn. Why don't we head home?" She asked him.

"Hey!" There came a shout from down the path. Bjorn began to turn away and Awinita stopped him, riding slowly a bit further before she came upon a large group of Atlas soldiers that seemed to be attempting to take several Faunus children into their custody. Her tail stuck straight out and was rigid as she leapt off of Bjorn and slowly approached the men on foot.

"What do you men think you're doing?" She demanded. They looked back and aimed their guns at her.

"Stop! Put your hands up and drop the weapon!" They commanded. She complied and they watched her with hesitant eyes.

"What are you men doing?" She asked. She glanced at the woods, Bjorn headed further in to avoid being seen.

"These kids are members of the White Fang. We're taking them in for proper questioning and containment," One of the men informed her. She gritted her teeth.  _Containment?!_

"They aren't monsters," she informed them. "Let them go and you can take me with you instead."

"I'm afraid we can't do that, but we can take you in as well," a soldier told her. A man who appeared to be of higher rank stepped past the men, shoving them out of the way and staring her down. His pink eyes stunned her for some reason.

"That's not what I agreed to," she called back. The general chuckled as he grabbed up one of the children and snatched one of the men's guns away, holding the barrel to the back of a little boy's head. His rabbit ears twitched frantically as he screamed in a severe panic.

"You're not exactly in a position to negotiate. We're the Atlas Army, we don't need you Faunus ruining things around here. Especially the White Fang. The only option that you have is to come with. If you refuse, I'll kill these kids and you'll still have to come with. I'm sure you'll make the right choice here," he reassured her. He pushed the gun harder against the child's head. "I'll give you to the count of three, and then we're gonna find out if this kid's semblance is immortality." Awinita was stunned. The look in this man's eyes terrified her, and no matter what she did, the boy was going to die.

"Wait," She pleaded. He smirked and kept staring directly into her soul.

"One…" Without warning the child disappeared from his grasp and was replaced by a woman who was wearing mostly black and wielding a long black katana. She sneered at the man for a moment as he slid back and without warning, they swapped places, the woman holding his gun and the general now gripping the blade. He was blindsided by a younger girl wearing chainmail and she clashed her own blade against his, which appeared to be an exact replica.

"Mistress!" The other girl shouted. She knocked the General back and tossed her blade to the redhead who caught it, tossing the gun back at her partner.

"Thank you Crimson," she spoke. Her voice was sure and felt like silk to Awinita's ears, surely these two could be trusted. Crimson opened fire on the soldiers as Awinita picked her staff back up and slowly charged it.

"Bjorn! Now!" She called out. She waited for her mech to arrive as she watched the children flee into the woods as the chaos ensued. She blasted the dark lightning at the general, causing him to be thrown back into the mass of soldiers, taking down a few with him and losing his grip on the woman's sword. Athena swapped places with him and slid to a stop as she grabbed her sword out of the air, now wielding both blades. The general landed close to Awinita, lying on his back and looking up at her. He watched as a Mechanical Ursa ran at full speed for the girl before shattering apart and clinging to her body, shifting and crawling over her physique until she was covered in a lightweight black armor that had two red glowing streaks that ran at a diagonal, down from her chest and meeting at her bellybutton.

"What the hell is that?!" He yelled out. Awinita laughed quietly as she blasted him away again with her staff and slowly moved towards the men that acknowledged her and ran at the command of their general. She looked down at the armor that covered her. Bjorn was her machine companion, but unlike the others back at Kimi, Awinita had a technopathic power that allowed her to reform her mech however she chose. It came in handy in battle and deterred most minor threats from attacking.

"Who are you?" Awinita asked as she glanced back and forth between Athena and Crimson.

"Those men from before were right. Those children were White Fang, as are we. The kids wandered too far from our village and as the Atlas Military has always done in the past, they were going to take them and try to experiment on them," Athena explained. "My handmaiden and I were on the way back from the city of Vale when we came across the men and you showed up at about the same time." She handed Crimson's blade back to her and sheathed her own, walking across the 'battlefield' and shaking the girl's hand. "But where are my manners, I am Athena Taurus, and this is my servant, Crimson."

"I saw the tail Mistress. She's a Faunus," Crimson told Athena. Athena looked interested but Awinita blushed and took a few steps backward.

"Where are you from, child," Athena asked her.

"I've heard about the White Fang. Adam Taurus gave Faunus a bad name," Awinita told Athena. Her face became bright red and she took a step towards the girl but Crimson quickly grappled her arm.

"Athena!" Crimson snapped. Athena yanked free and glared at Crimson who shrunk away, bowing her head and averting her eyes. "I'm sorry Mistress!" Athena looked back at Awinita and gave her a forced grin, trying to relieve the stress of the situation.

"My brother had the right idea! He just went the wrong way about it," Athena recalled as she stared up at the sky. "But you don't have to tell me where you're from, I already know. I've seen that style of clothing before. The island and safe haven of Faunus, Menagerie. Why, pray tell, would you leave your home to come all the way here? Is it a lover perhaps? Needed a change of scenery? Hm?" Awinita looked back down the path towards where she had come from.

"Just wanted to come see one of the big cities. Travelers and others that come in on ships always talk about how amazing they are. I wanted to see one first hand, see if the stories were true," Awinita told her. Athena's lips tugged upward at each end as she began to circle the girl slowly.

"Why wouldn't you travel to Haven?" Crimson still kept her head bowed, now kneeling on the ground on one knee and occasionally glancing up at her Mistress. "It would be much closer than heading all the way to Vale, and you'd have a much greater chance of getting back to Menagerie without risking winter beginning before you return. Surely there must be some other reason that you'd travel the extra distance." She stopped behind Awinita, grabbing her by the shoulders and moving to her ear. "I heard that the Schnee Dust Company is going to be doing some digging on the island. You aren't all planning on taking them down, are you? Has Ghira and the others bit off more than they can chew this time?"

"No!" She spun around and shoved Athena away. "Is there talk of such a thing? I have to get back to Menagerie and warn them!" Athena looked over Awinita's shoulder and waved for Crimson to stand up and she complied.

"Not that I've heard, but if there were discussions of something like that being planned, the only way that I can see it being stopped is by convincing Atlas to leave as soon as possible. Then everyone will be safe and all of you who decided to stay back on the island would be ensured your complete safety again, wouldn't you?" Awinita nodded but was still hesitant and she glanced over at Crimson who approached them.

"You have incredible power!" Crimson told her. "Join us! We have a plan to make sure that our kind is never underestimated again, it'll leave Atlas and all of the other kingdoms no choice but to stay out of our affairs once and for all. You would be a powerful asset towards Mistress Athena's cause." Athena laughed and brushed Crimson off.

"Our cause Crimson. My cause is for the good of all Faunus," Athena reassured the girl. "How about it? Stay a few extra months and train with us and when we're done with Vale no man will ever dare to test the Faunus again." Awinita wasn't sure that she could trust Atlas after the stunt that the general had just tried to pull on her. Perhaps Ghira's view of the White Fang had been skewed, or they had changed since Adam's death. She needed to do this. For her family back home and the Belladonnas. She extended her hand and shook Athena's.

"I'd be glad to help," she told Athena with a nod and a smile to reassure both of them, herself included. Athena smiled and wrapped her arm around Awinita, guiding her into the woods.

"I'm glad to hear that! Let me show you to the village!" She exclaimed leaving Crimson behind for a moment, looking at the minor amount of blood that had been spilled on the road. She got down on her hands and knees and rubbed her hands in it, looking at it as she let it stain her skin. She trembled but was distracted shortly afterward as her scroll rang and she answered it.

"Was she the one or do we need to return?" Said the voice on the other end.

"No Admon, she was the one that we were informed was coming. You and your men will be compensated accordingly by the end of the week. I'll make sure that the funds are transferred in time for your 'raid' next week," Crimson reassured him. She hung up and looked at the blood on the ground again before returning her gaze to her hands. Soon the blood on her hands would be Joseph's. And shortly after, Athena's apprentice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It would appear that our naive Faunus from Menagerie has been picked up by the Fang on her way to the SDC. Next week, NITE and CBLT face off in Chapter 22 - Capture the Flag!
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!
> 
> Below is the reference art for Mattachanna that my girlfriend used. Artist: Nahemii-San  
> 


	26. Capture The Flag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NITE and CBLT face off in a heated match of Capture the Flag!

"Tell me again whose idea it was to agree to having a capture the flag match with Team CBLT?" Titus asked as he stretched and stood on the green between the two dorms that had been transformed into a war zone of sorts using beds and tables that the other students had dragged out into the field. He stood on the end closest to the first year dorms with Neela, Ilia, and Eliana. He watched as CBLT prepared on the far side, loading up their Dust into their weapons. Bái and Lykos were having a side conversation, and Cobalt and Tawney appeared to be discussing a strategy for taking down Neela, or at least Titus assumed as much. He made a full three-sixty, noting that a large group had gathered around to watch their game.

"Oh shut up Titus, you know it's going to be fun," Ilia told him. "I just hope the teachers don't catch wind of this."

"I saw Jaune on our way out of the dorm," Titus said.

"Considering the fact that the entire student body had this battlefield set up before we were even out of bed this morning, it's probably safe to say that everyone on campus knows," Eliana told Ilia. She turned to Neela who cracked her knuckles before checking the Dust selector on her wrist. "Did you bring any of your trick tips?" Neela chuckled as she patted the pouch on her side.

"Specialized tips and I have a few," Neela replied. Eliana peaked into the pouch before snapping it shut again.

"Do you think that your moms are watching?" Eliana inquired.

"I hope not," Neela told her. Eliana tilted her head.

"Why not?" Eliana asked.

"Blake always worries too much when I do these kinds of things and she'll probably have to stop Yang from actually joining the game," Neela laughed to herself. "I'd say the only person that we have to worry about at this point is Glynda." Neela spotted her mothers and nodded as she walked around Eliana to stand beside Titus and examine CBLT closer.

* * *

"What's going on out here?!" Blake demanded as she came to a stop behind the mass of students that was slowly beginning to grow and surrounded two of the student housing buildings. Blake, Yang, and Shadow had only woken up about an hour ago and had prepared to go out to Vale for the morning to do some shopping before they returned to campus, they were planning on letting Shadow play with Lamar for a few hours while they discussed the events that had taken place at Mountain Glenn the day before. It had taken them a few hours for them to escape with the help of Yatsu, but Pyrrha had managed to create a barrier around herself and Yang before the cave collapsed, saving both of them. The two women were unharmed and Yang reported immediately to Ruby who let the council know.

"Hey babe, what's happening?" Yang asked as she approached, Shadow sitting on her shoulders and pointing out towards the arena.

"Sissy and Elli!" Shadow called out.

"What is it little kitty?" Yang asked.

"I see Sissy and Elli!" Shadow cheered and giggled. Blake looked back at Yang who gave a large smile and did her best to shrug as Blake prepared to push through the students.

"Blake. Don't do this," Yang told her. "It's just a game, let them have some fun. You remember the food fight, don't you?" Blake glared at her with a pair of crazed eyes.

"Nora launched you into the air for nearly a minute!" Blake scolded.

"Heh. Bad example huh?" Yang asked. Blake nodded and turned around again before she felt someone grab her by the shoulder and she glanced up at them.

"Glynda?" Blake asked.

"I'll take it from here Blake," Glynda reassured her as she gently pushed the students to each side with her telekinesis and walked down the chasm she had created.

"Speak of the devil," Ilia said. Glynda stepped into the middle of the two teams and they felt their dreams of bragging rights over the other team being crushed as she glowered at each and every one of them, ensuring that they each felt the weight of her eye contact. Her lips cracked into a slight smile, something that the kids weren't used to finding on the headmistress's face and she opened her mouth to address them.

"Capture the flag, right?" She asked. Bái hid behind Lykos at this point, nodding slowly as Neela stepped out so that she was in front of her teammates.

"Yes ma'am, and it was all my idea," Neela told her. Cobalt peered past Glynda as the woman turned back to look at Neela. What was she doing? None of this had been her idea, why was she taking the heat for him?

"Very well then," Glynda said, now raising her voice. "Capture the Flag it is! Players must stay inside of the arena at all times, the flag must be hidden in plain sight and not inside of another object, and if your aura breaks you must return to your own base and wait for it to return! Sound fair enough?!" Neela nodded slowly, slightly confused as Glynda winked at her before looking back at the student body, her face fixed once again in the same menacing and determined look as she left through the same divide she had entered through and continued back towards the campus. Yang looked at Blake with a grin on her face.

"Well then," Yang said. Blake's eyes searched Yang's face before giving a warm smile and turning back to the arena.

"Kick some ass, Neela!" Blake shouted.

"Yeah, kick some ass, Sissy!" Shadow exclaimed. Blake blushed and looked up at Shadow.

"Don't say that word Shadow, Mommy Blake just got a little excited," Blake told her daughter. Yang bounced the girl on her shoulders and they both giggled.

"I love it when Mommy Blake gets feisty!" Yang exclaimed.

"So what's the plan of attack?" Titus asked as he leapt on the balls of his feet, standing back to back with Ilia.

"The opening move we've been practicing nonstop for the last several weeks would make the most sense," Ilia replied. Neela took a step back, watching Cobalt, each of them waiting for the other to make a move.

"That would work great if not for Cobalt's scanner," Neela replied.

"We can still get the others," Eliana stated. Titus shrugged.

"Worth a shot?" He asked Neela. She gave Cobalt a smug grin, causing him to hesitate for a moment as his hand slowly moved for his weapon.

"Sure," Neela told him. She knelt and her eyes lit up as she activated her semblance, giving Cobalt a temporary panic and Titus quickly threw his arms out, crashing his swords off of each other. One was activated with fire and the other water, causing an enormous amount of steam to pour off of him and engulf all four of them, Ilia quickly reaching back above her head for Titus's neck and jumping into his body. "Titus, Cobalt is at 0 degrees, with Tawney roughly 12 degrees to the right. Bái is making a run back to their base to defend. Elli, fall back for now."

"Right!" She exclaimed.

"Where's Lykos?!" Titus exclaimed.

"Charge out! I'll take care of him in a moment!" Neela yelled. Titus slammed out of the steam, Cobalt had plenty of time to dodge the gravity waves that crashed through the air but they caught Tawney off guard and forced her to slide back as she attempted to block with her tonfas. Neela fired an arrow for Tawney, intentionally taking out three shurikens that were heading for Titus and allowing Titus to set the plan into motion. "Titus!"

"Yeah, I know!" He replied. He planted a sword in the ground bringing him to a halt as Tawney moved quickly to cut him off, earth Dust slamming pillars of stone up under her and throwing her off balance as she dove out of harm's way. He lifted the sword and spun the dial, changing both to gravity and placing them against each other. Ilia leapt out and he launched her over Team CBLT giving Cobalt a moment of confusion. Lykos created an illusion, forcing Neela to acknowledge it as he dashed past her, racing towards NITE's base. Neela fired an arrow at Cobalt, which he deflected, and returned the grin that he now gave her.

"Titus, take the maniac, would you?" Neela asked. Titus gave a slight nod.

"Sure."

Meanwhile, Ilia had navigated the course and made it into the opposing dorm, closing the door behind her quickly and stopping to breathe. The agreement was to hide the flag in the recreation room, it was the largest on the main floor, spacious enough for a small spat. Bái would be waiting for her, but Ilia didn't feel as though the shy, small girl would give her much of a challenge. This round was as good as theirs. Ilia took off down the hall after waiting for a long moment and rounded the corner to find that the location where the flag must have been was now encased in a block of ice. Ilia smirked.

"Is that all you can do?" Ilia asked.

"I've been training with Lykos," Bái replied as Ilia spotted her on the opposite side of the room. Bai's arms were covered with a light ice armor and she held an ice shield and short sword. Ilia had to admit that she looked formidable, but it was unlikely that the girl had become strong enough to defeat her. Ilia extended her blades.

"Let's go then!" Ilia charged in and swung, alternating her attacks as Bái let the blows glance off of her arms before placing her shield directly in front of her and pushing Ilia back. Ilia slid across a patch of ice that Bái must have created while she was attacking and she felt a slight amusement. Ilia quickly knelt, planting her blades to stop her body. She charged forward again, allowing the ice to propel her and Bái swung her blade as Ilia approached, forcing Ilia to knock it down with her weapons on her forearms, firing at Bái. Bái backflipped away, quickly throwing up a small ice barrier and giving Ilia just long enough to change out her current magazine for fire rounds.

Ilia opened fire, destroying Bái's defenses to reveal that Bái had surrounded herself in shards of ice that floated around her freely. Her eyes were completely glossed over and the gaze was so cold that it burned, causing Ilia to shudder. What was this feeling? Ilia emptied a few rounds, but Bái's fractals blocked every last bullet, flying around her at a rapid and uncanny speed. Ilia only had one option left, and she had to hope it worked. She planted her feet, firing a few rounds beneath her to disperse some of the ice, the room now had a considerable amount of water sitting on top of the hardwood flooring.

She sprinted, feeling Bái blasting at her with all of her might, trying to freeze her opponent before she could reach her mark. Ilia prevailed and grabbed Bái, opting for a kiss as she normally did considering the fact that most people didn't cover their faces and a kiss typically caught them off guard. She had taken control of the body, all she needed to do now was…

_No! It wasn't supposed to happen this way! Get me Merlot now! Why is she the only one that survived?!_

What was this voice? Who was speaking…? No… Who was shouting at her? Who was Merlot? Ilia felt an icy grip filling her even as she hid in the girl's body, as though this wasn't a semblance, but that the ice was actually a part of her. Is this what those boys back at the initiation had meant when they said that they had heard that she was a freak?

 _I needed an army, not a little girl who keeps crying for her parents!_ A sharp pain filled Ilia's mind as she sank into the abyss inside of Bái's mind.  _Burn everything down! This was a failure and I'm holding you responsible, Blood!_  Light filled Ilia's mind ever so slightly, as though she was looking through Bái's eyes, but her eyes were being clouded by some kind of pain. She couldn't see clearly, all that she could see was a fire spreading around her that she was desperately trying to put out, images of the actual room around her flickered on occasion, but Bái was panicking.

_Bái, can you hear me? It's me, Ilia. I don't know what's happening or what happened in the past, but that fire that you're seeing isn't real!_

"Get out of my head! It is real!" Bái screamed. Ilia strained as she tried to take control of Bái's body, but it was as if Bái and the ice itself were battling her out. Ilia couldn't hold on much longer. She strained and leapt out of the body as she had exhausted herself. She landed on the ground beside Bái, the room covered in ice as a steady barrage flew in all directions from the girl like a blizzard.

"I'm sorry," Ilia muttered. She quickly blasted Bái's feet out from under her before slamming her elbow into the girl's temple. Ilia shivered as the storm stopped and Bái lay motionless on the floor beside her. What had they done to this girl?

* * *

Titus sized up Tawney as she bounced on the balls of her feet and Neela joined him, both of them standing close to the center of the arena.

"We're wasting time," Neela told Titus. "We should try and take care of the two of them quickly."

"You don't think Elli can stop Lykos?" Titus asked. Neela chuckled.

"Oh, I'm not worried about that," Neela told him. She was cut off as Tawney charged in and threw a couple of empty punches that Neela easily dodged as she stepped backward allowing Titus to step in. He caught the tonfas as they connected on the edge of one of his blades, firing above his head. He blocked Cobalt with his other blade as he moved in for an attack with his sword. Titus grunted as he held them both back, throwing them away from him.

"Neela? Little help?" He asked.

"Stone Sentry?" Neela asked. Titus nodded in approval as she crouched and activated her semblance, waiting for Titus's move. Titus slammed his kopides into the ground and formed a rock barrier between himself and CBLT, forming a large rock pillar in front of Neela to conceal her movement. She fired an arrow directly into the air and struck it with gravity arrow a less than a second later, causing the first to explode and rain fire down on her opponents. Tawney and Cobalt pressed against the barrier for protection and Neela ran to Titus from behind her own cover and nodded. She stepped back as he slammed his kopides together and gravity Dust shattered the short wall, allowing Neela to fire a gravity arrow between the two, catching them off guard. They were both thrown away and Neela made a run for CBLT's base.

"Go!" Titus yelled.

"Cobalt!" Tawney shouted. Cobalt sprinted out from around the corner of the building, wielding his sword, forcing Neela to slide to a stop as she glanced back at the Cobalt behind her. She figured it out quickly as she formed her bow into its blade form, he must have cloned himself after she had shot the fire arrow and sent either himself or the clone as extra coverage to the base. Their weapons clashed. Tawney slammed her tonfas into the Cobalt close to her, beating the hell out of him before disappeared as her eyes lit up and she gave a devilish grin, moving quickly to Titus and firing her shotgun into his chest, throwing him back and forcing him to topple over some of the tables and mattresses that had been set up.

* * *

Lykos stood around the corner of the doorway that would lead him into the rec room holding Team NITE's flag, taking a long moment to weigh up his options before he entered the room. He had left the door open, opening it as stealthily as he could in the hopes that Eliana wouldn't hear him coming and he'd be able to quickly grab the flag without her even taking note of him. A few well-placed shuriken throws on the far side of the room would draw her attention enough to allow him to create an illusion and grab it as she was distracted. He prepared to move.

"You think you're sneaky, huh?" Eliana asked, a slight amusement in her voice. "Just because I'm all fun and games you thought this was going to be easy? Is that what everybody thinks about me? I'm not a force to be reckoned with like the rest of my teammates?" Lykos remained motionless for a moment before deciding to reply.

"Nobody said that. Nobody thinks that either. We all heard about your match with Neo. Even the third and fourth-year students are impressed with the fact that you managed to get to her," Lykos explained. Eliana chuckled before he heard her shifting across the room.

"Oh, I know that. I just needed you to reply to me," Eliana told him. He was thrown back down the hallway by one of her force fields and managed to find his feet as she stepped out of the room, firing several shots off at him. He quickly deflected them with the shuriken running down his forearms and they stood at a standstill for a moment. It would be impossible for Lykos to move any further into the building unless he was able to overpower Eliana or disregard her bullets completely, but doing so would undoubtedly send him back to his own base until his aura had time to regenerate. His illusion wasn't going to work here either. Perhaps he needed to fall back.

Falling back wasn't a great course of action either. If he chose to leave, it was likely that Neela or one of the others had already taken their flag, and their only chance of winning was if Lykos managed to get the flag now and bring it back more quickly than NITE. Time was running out and seeing as how she didn't intend to kill him, he decided that he would chance rushing in. Lykos reformed his shurikens on his whip and charged towards Eliana who simply stopped him with a forcefield and shook her head.

"This all seems a bit silly, wouldn't you say?" Lykos asked as he found himself out of options.

"If it helps Neela win and makes her happy, I'll do whatever I have to do," Eliana explained to him. He nodded. To an extent, he understood her. He would do whatever it took to protect his teammates, especially Bái for reasons that he couldn't put into words. Lykos could respect the fact that Eliana wanted to make Neela happy, but he also knew that Bái wouldn't want him to give up so easily and so he quickly made another move. From what he had seen of Eliana fighting in the arena during class, he knew that she wasn't great at concentrating her force fields yet and that they were very generalized. Lykos threw out his projectiles again, allowing them to strike off of the forcefield repeatedly as the two stood staring at each other for a long moment. One of the shurikens broke through, and Eliana lost her focus, turning quickly to block it, but only slightly deflecting it as he attempted to tear past her, cutting her arm. She turned to fire, but he had already formed his whip and yanked both of her guns away with a quick flick.

He sprinted by and was tossed across the room as Eliana dove in the opposite direction after her weapons. He slid across the floor, managing to stay on his feet as the flag slipped through his fingers. He made a vain attempt to snatch the objective up with his whip, Eliana keeping him from achieving his goal by firing at his weapon and directing it off course. He came to a stop and scattered his throwing stars again, forcing Eliana to open fire which he was able to mostly dodge while he charged and grappled her as they struggled against each other.

"Give up Elli," he grunted.

"Yeah… Right…" She replied. His shurikens came in to reform on him but she enclosed them inside of a large spherical force field, keeping his weapons from interfering. She shoved him back a few steps, able to slam one of her pistols into the side of his head, causing him to become disoriented. She blasted him back into the hallway using gravity coated bullets. Lykos was unsure of how to proceed, it seemed Eliana wasn't about to let him go anywhere near the flag again.

* * *

Neela slid back, separating herself from Cobalt and fired her grapple hook at him, managing to entrap his left arm and allowing the tow to do the rest. She pulled hard, swinging him with a strength that surprised even Tawney and released the grip, causing him to tumble away and come to a stop beside his teammate. Before either of them could react Neela had already reformed her bow and fired an arrow that landed between the two of them. Cobalt did a combat roll out of the way, covering his face as it went off, his scanner had warned him that it was a flashbang arrow. The ringing disoriented him but not as much as the blinding light had thrown off Tawney and Titus encased her in an earth dome, looking to Neela and nodding.

"Let's go!" He told her. She agreed and the two of them moved quickly to the dorm and entered in.

"Ilia!" Neela called out as they closed the door behind them and Titus propped himself against it. There was no way that they could get in and as soon as the flag was in their possession, all that they would have to do is have Ilia take the flag and ride Titus out. He would tank through the enemy as Neela laid suppressive fire long enough for them to return to their own base. They had won. "Ilia, where are you?! You know that this fight was supposed to stay on the first floor, right? If you guys went up to the rooms Glynda is going to kill us!"

"She knows that we were supposed to stay down here, she's the one that informed me," Titus told Neela. Neela slowly crept to the rec room, where she could see a fairly decent amount of steam rolling out into the hallway. Someone slammed against the door behind Titus, and he guessed from the force of it that it was Tawney. "Neela! Come on! We have to hurry!" Neela's jaw dropped and she turned back to Titus who took a step away from the door. It swung open behind him, Cobalt and Tawney slamming through as they both came to a stop, confusing by what was going on.

"What's up Neela?" Cobalt asked. Neela ran into the room as the other three exchanged glances and quickly followed her to find Bái and Ilia lying on the floor, both of them passed out.

"What the hell happened?" Tawney asked. Neela looked back at them.

"Tawney, go get Elli and Lykos! Cobalt, go get Ren!" Neela demanded. They nodded and took off running without a moment's hesitation as Titus knelt down beside Ilia who moaned slightly.

"Ilia," he spoke. "What did the two of you do to each other?" She groaned as she squinted at him, grunting as she tried to sit up but he denied her the act as he pushed her gently back down to the ground, taking off his cape and balling it up to prop up beneath her head. She pulled out her scroll and handed it to Titus who looked at it for a long moment before taking it. Was there something on it she wanted him to see? "What's this for?"

"Just wanted to make sure it wasn't broken," she said chuckling lightly before groaning from the pain. "Hold on to it for a bit, would you?"

"Yeah," he replied. He looked at Neela who was checking Bái over and nodded to him.

"She'll be alright," Neela said. "Looks like we'll have to end this game a little short." Ilia tried sitting again but Titus refused to let her.  
"I demand a rematch," Ilia said. Neela smirked and shook her head. Why had they gone at each other so hard? Tawney returned a moment later with Eliana and Lykos, Lykos shoving past Neela so that he could get to Bái.

"What happened?" Lykos asked as he gently lifted Bái up into his arms and stood with her. She grunted slightly, seething as he shushed her and pulled her close to his body.

"Isn't it a little obvious?" Ilia managed. They looked around the room, too distracted by the state of their teammates at first to notice that the entire room was more or less a block of ice. Now Lykos knew, he had seen it a few times before, that crazed look in Bái's eyes as her power took control of her body and lashed out at anything and everything. Ilia had no choice but to knock her out, a decision that was apparent by the slight bruising that was taking place close to Bái's forehead. He carried her out as Tawney followed him, Titus helped Ilia up and she wrapped an arm around Eliana who helped her leave. Moments later Ren arrived while Nora dispersed the crowd.

"I'll take her from here," Ren said as he took Bái from Lykos. "Eliana, you can follow me with Ilia." Eliana nodded and they left Titus, Neela, and the rest of Team CBLT beside, watching on as their friends headed for the campus and the crowd split up.

"We totally won," Tawney said. They all looked at her.

"Really?" Lykos asked. He shook his head and walked away. Tawney looked at them and shrugged.

"What?" She asked.

"Is that all you think about?" Cobalt asked. "Is winning all that matters to you?" Tawney dragged her foot in the grass and turned away looking at the tables and mattresses behind them.

"Guess we should probably clean this up," Tawney said deflecting the question. Neela continued to watch Eliana as she walked away with Ilia. Something told her that things were only going to get more interesting from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It looks like CBLT pulled off a default stalemate due to their teammate's injuries... Next time, Chapter 23 - Brass Tacks and Misunderstandings!
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	27. Brass Tacks and Misunderstandings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coco and Velvet meet with Blake and Yang to discuss the issue of the Stardust Gang! Also, we find out that some things are better out of context...

Coco opened the door, stumbling for a moment as Shadow tore into the room past her and tackled Lamar who had been waiting patiently behind his mother for the girl. They laughed for a long moment, rolling around on the floor before Lamar leapt to his feet and took Shadow's hand, the little girl blushed slightly as he dragged her into the next room and she was barely able to keep up with him. Coco smiled as she watched them disappear and greeted Yang and Blake, welcoming them into the living room as she sat down on a chair and motioned for them to sit on the sofa. Coco leaned forward, slowly stirring her mug of coffee before blowing on it to cool it off and taking a small sip.

"Blake, Yang! Come sit down! I'm glad the two of you had some time off today to get away for a while," Coco exclaimed. "Velv and I are normally pretty busy ourselves, but it's nice when things work out. Yatsuhashi wanted to stop in last night, but we had to work late, so that ended up falling through." Coco smiled as they sat down and she sat back in her chair, taking another sip of her coffee, swallowing hard as a thought crossed her mind. "Mmm… Bun! Blake and Yang are here! Come join us!"

"Just a second!" Velvet called out from the other room. Coco smiled and directed her attention to Blake.

"I want you to know that I have the perfect dress picked out for Shadow when she and Lamar get married," Coco told them as she pulled out her scroll and browsed through her photos until she found the image. She handed it to Yang who smiled in excitement, looking it over and handing it to Blake.

"Oh my gods, it's beautiful!" Yang exclaimed as Blake took it in for a moment. "Isn't that gorgeous Blake?"

"It is, but isn't it a little early to be planning their wedding? They're just kids. Hell, we don't even know if they'll be together when they get to the academy or not. They might have different interests by then," Blake stated as she handed it back to Coco who put it down on the coffee table.

"It is never too early to plan fashion," Coco told them as Velvet finally joined them, exiting the hallway and moving to Coco's chair, sitting on her lap. "Hey Bun."

"I was just finishing up the laundry," she said kissing Coco. "What did I miss?"

"I was showing them the wedding dress that I think Shadow should wear when she gets married," Coco told her wife.

"Spectacular, right?" Velvet asked them. Yang nodded as Blake simply stared ahead and she pulled Blake in.

"How about that match this morning?" Coco asked, trying to subtly change the subject. Yang moved to the edge of her seat.

"That was impressive. Both teams are pushing themselves and each other to the brink every day. I don't think that two teams have ever worked so hard to achieve greatness, even if they don't completely realize that they're doing it. It's a shame that they had to call the game early. Was Bái okay? The last thing Neela texted me was that they had found Bái and Ilia both passed out in the rec room, but Neela never sent me another message after that," Yang told Coco. Coco took a swig of her drink and handed it to Velvet to set on the table beside her scroll.

"She's fine. They carried her back to the nurse's office and Ren checked her over. Ilia had knocked her out because she said that Bái had lost control of her power and they were going to freeze to death. Her story lines up, both Titus and Neela confirmed that the entire room was covered in a thick layer of ice when they entered to retrieve the flag. There's something else going on with that girl, but she refuses to talk to any of us about it, and Lykos told us that she isn't ready to open up to him yet. I just hope that it isn't anything too serious. Though Ren said that Ilia heard someone say the name Merlot when she was in Bái's psyche. Does that mean anything to you?" Coco asked. Blake and Yang exchanged a look before Blake spoke.

"During our year as students at Beacon, Oz had sent us out on a mission against a man by the name of Merlot. He was experimenting on Grimm, he seemed obsessed with them, hell-bent on turning those monsters into weapons that he could control," Blake explained. "That doesn't make any sense though, he only ever dealt with Grimm, and he wouldn't have done anything to that girl."

"What if she's being possessed by a Grimm?" Velvet asked. They all turned their attention to her. She shrugged. "The Giant Armor and the Geist are both possession Grimm, plus there are probably others that we don't know about. Do you think that a possession Grimm could be inside of Bái?" They all exchanged confused and nervous glances.

"Both of those Grimm only possess inanimate objects Velv," Coco said.

"Same as the ones that we fought on Merlot's island," Yang added.

"I can't imagine a Grimm being capable of such a thing," Blake finished.

"But what if it could?" Velvet stated. "Think about all of the Grimm that we know about. The Feilong. The desert Grimm on Menagerie. The Dragon that RWBY took down in Vale and the Nuckelavee that RNJR fought out in Mistral. There are probably even more powerful Grimm, I wouldn't doubt the fact that maybe Salem was part Grimm herself." They all sat in silence for a long moment before Yang cleared her throat.

"We can think about that later," Yang told them.

"Right," Blake agreed.

"So anything new on the Neeliana front?" Coco asked. Blake shook her head.

"Nothing new from Eliana, though it does seem like Neela has toned it down a bit. I don't know if it's so she can focus on her studies, or because she found out that Eliana just isn't interested in her that way," Blake replied. She bit her lip. "I really hope that Elli feels the same." Blake looked up at Coco. "Neela will never admit it out loud to anyone, but Elli is the one thing that she desires even more than becoming a huntress. If she loses Elli for any reason, it'd be the hardest thing that Neela would have to endure since her parents were killed. I understand why she wants to wait to tell Elli, she's nervous, but if she waits too long she's bound to lose her."

"Just like I would have lost you to Sun?" Yang asked. Blake chuckled.

"Sun's a good friend, but that would never have happened," she replied causing Yang to smile.

"I'd give her advice on the subject, but I was the same way with Velv," Coco told them. "But for different reasons. Neela's afraid of losing Elli, where I was mostly concerned with that fact that I wouldn't make Velvet happy if she said yes." Velvet looked back at Coco and smiled. Coco beamed back at her softly. "It seems silly now, but I know exactly what Neela is going through."

"What's also different with the four of us is the fact that we all showed some sort of mutual interest back. You said that Elli seems only to see Neela as a friend or a sister," Velvet said. Yang nodded.

"They grew up together, they were inseparable after they met," Yang said as she laughed, recalling the girls playing together. "I remember when they used to go out in the yard and pretend that they were huntresses, and they'd chase after Zwei when Tai brought him over, pretending that he was a beowolf that they needed to slay. Needless to say, Zwei didn't care for it much, but the smiles on their faces and the way their eyes lit up as they saved each other from such a terrifying Grimm…" Her eyes watered. "This must be how dad felt watching us grow up. It happens too quickly and before you know it, they're on their own." Something crashed in the next room.

"Sorry!" Lamar called out and they all broke out into laughter as Velvet stood to check on the noise.

"And at other times they can't grow up fast enough," Coco said. "I wouldn't trade this time for all of the lien in Remnant." She stood up, moving to the kitchen to get another cup of coffee and she called out through the house. "So, you two said that you were coming over with the intent of bringing me up to speed on the situation with Orion. That was his name, right?"

"Yes! He escaped with some help from other members of Merc's gang yesterday!" Yang yelled back. "He tried to crush Pyrrha and me, but we were able to hold up the debris long enough for Yatsu to dig us out with Neptune and Sun's help. I only really got a good look at one of them aside from Starboy, and he looked like maybe he was a canine Faunus or something like that. He ran on all fours at times and fought with a bone weapon. You got anything on him?" Coco reentered the room and nodded as she was mid-sip, gently setting the mug down once again.

"Sounds a lot like Sirius and yes, he's also a member of Mercury's gang, probably the second most prominent. We haven't run into him often, but he seems like one of the more powerful criminals in Vale. It's rumored that his weapon is actually made up of the spine of a Grimm that he captured and then ripped it out of," Coco informed them. Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Is that even possible?" She asked. Coco shrugged.

"Beats me, but it makes for one hell of a story," she replied. "It would seem that Merc has a small sect operating inside of his own group that has taken on the name of The Stardust Gang. Not the best name ever. Sounds like a bad pun that Yang would have come up with, to be honest."

"My puns are better than that," she declared.

"Did we get anything out of him before he managed to get away?" Coco asked. "I know that you can't tell me any more about the relics other than they exist, but did he know where they were? Did he indicate that Mercury might know or mention who he was working for?" Yang shook her head.

"He resisted most of our methods, we even let Nora get a few licks in with her hammer and he still refused to talk," Yang explained. Coco picked up her scroll and flipped through a few of the screens. "We would have been better off just keeping him at the police station again and risking another escape. The council is a little upset over the fact that he took down an entire mountain base. Ruby has been busy trying to defuse the situation for the last twenty-four hours. Guess we should have thought this whole thing out a little more instead of rushing it like we did."

"It's not the worst thing that could have happened to be honest. I was fully anticipating that he would somehow escape again, so I planted a tracker on his shield that he will never be able to find unless he removed the strap for some reason. Now its battery will die after a week or so, so I've put some of the best analysts that we could dig up with some help from Weiss and her sister, we should be able to pinpoint a location for Orion at least. Where he frequents, any patterns he may follow, that sort of thing. I have a sting operation planned because we have word from Neo that in a few days from now Stardust is going to attack the port and steal a large shipment of Dust. I know, sounds familiar," Coco told them. Blake nodded.

"There's no White Fang involved this time though," she told Coco.

"You're right. This operation is being carried out only by Stardust, we don't even have confirmation that they are working with Mercury to make this happen. However, they are one of the few traceable ties that we have right now, so I've come up with a plan to try and stop them. They can't stay silent if we catch all of them," Coco said. She took a drink and looked at Blake with a crooked smile. "This brings me to my next point of interest."

"Oh?" Blake asked. "And what would that be?"

"I have a little extra credit in mind for Team NITE," Coco told her as Velvet returned.

"No," Blake said slowly as it settled in. She stood along with Coco across from her. "No."

"They'll be fine. Team RWBY was taking on the White Fang, Roman Torchwick, and Neo their first year," Coco reminded her.

"That's different! Roman was a nobody when it came to fighting! We were able to catch him with little to no issue! If we haven't been able to stop Orion from escaping after catching him multiple times, what makes you think that NITE will be able to do any better?!" Blake vented. Coco removed her glasses.

"You don't really think that I would send them in there if they weren't ready for it, do you?!" Coco shouted back.

"We are talking about a full blown team of huntsmen like fighters! I refuse to let Neela participate!" Blake snapped.

"It isn't up to you!" Coco replied.

"Glynda will never agree to this!" Blake informed her. "I'll make sure of it!"

"Didn't you two do enough of this in the last story?" Yang asked. Neither of them seemed to have heard her.

"You have to trust your daughter!" Coco yelled. Blake's eyes grew wide and she stopped. They stared at each other for a long moment in the sudden silence that had occurred and the kids came running in from Lamar's room. "Do you trust Neela with your life? Haven't you been training her since she was a little girl for this very moment?" Blake held back tears as Shadow ran to her and threw her arms around Blake's legs.

"Don't cry, mommy. Sissy is the strongest ever!" Shadow reassured her mom, trying to comfort her. Blake nodded and sniffed as she picked Shadow up, smiling at the girl.

"You're right Shadow. Sissy is very strong," Blake said. Coco walked over to Lamar and rubbed the top of his head before Blake set Shadow back down and the children ran off once again.

"Blake," Coco said sternly as she turned back to look at her. "I'm not throwing these kids out there as bait. I have no intention of having them do this on their own like you had to. It will be guided."

"They're strong," Velvet added. Coco nodded as did Yang.

"If things get out of hand, I'll have a team in there faster than that freak can teleport away with that light of his," Coco explained. "Trust me. Trust Neela." Blake swallowed and nodded.

 _She's ready. I trust her. I'm still so scared for her._ Yang wrapped her arms around Blake. Blake's mind flashed back to when Yang came back for her after she had run away. Yang was terrified that Blake had tried to take Adam on, but Yang also accepted the fact that she knew Blake possessed the strength to take him down. She took a deep breath.  _She can do this._

_Neela. You can do this._

* * *

Titus sat on his bed as he had just finished showering and changed into a pair of grey sweatpants and a white tank top that fit tightly to his built frame. He dried his hair off, wondering what he should do with his half an hour of free time that he had been given. Neela and Eliana were at the Xiao Long's for dinner and Ilia still hadn't returned yet from the infirmary. He remembered that Ilia had given him her scroll earlier and moved to her desk to see if she had received any messages while she had been out.

He unlocked it, curious to see if she had any notifications and noted that she had one message from someone she had named "JA" in her contacts. He wanted to press further, thinking that perhaps this was the boy she was texting all the time and seemed bashful about. However, Titus felt this might be an invasion of privacy and put the scroll down thinking better of it. He turned away from her desk and took a step towards him before he stopped in his tracks. She would never have to know… He could just mark it as unread and she would never find out that he read the message.

But what if somehow she did find out? He would never hear the end of it, or perhaps she would do something to him, he could only imagine the wrath that would be brought on by such an invasion of privacy. After weighing up the consequences he determined that the risk was worth the reward and picked the scroll up off of the desk just as the door to the room swung open and the frame was filled with Ilia who greeted him with a smirk.

"How's it going, big guy?" She asked as she entered in and closed the door behind her, walking past him and into the bathroom where he could hear her running the water in the sink. He looked at her scroll in his hand and set it back down on her desk, glancing back at the bathroom door to see if she had noticed before he moved quickly back to his bunk and opened one of his textbooks, acting as if he was studying. He read the page he was on for a moment before he was struck by a sudden bout of fear. Had he opened the message in a panic and been unable to mark it as unread? She'd know for sure if she hadn't noticed before! He had no choice but to grab the device once more and hope that she stayed in the bathroom for a moment.

He leapt quickly to his feet, grabbing it up in one swift movement as Ilia stepped into the room with her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. She glanced at the scroll in his hand and moved back to the bathroom, leaving him there in momentary shock. She had seen, there was no getting around it, but maybe he could apologize and that would be enough to get him off the hook. She sprinted back through the room, slamming her fist into his nose, forcing him to stumble back in pain, grabbing at his injury as she took the scroll from him.

"What the hell?!" She yelled at him as he was still trying to process what had happened.

"It's not what it looked like!" He replied as he sat in the chair beside him rubbing his nose and noting the blood that was trickling over his mouth. She put the scroll in her pocket and cocked her hip, rolling her eyes.

"What was it then?" She asked.

"I was just…" He began.

"Going through my messages?" She asked. He looked up at her and sighed. "They didn't teach you much about privacy at Atlas, did they?"

"I just wanted to make sure that this guy was right for you," He told her. She gave him a crooked look from across the room, confused by what he had said.

"What?" She asked.

"Whoever you keep texting all the time! 'JA', right? I just wanted to make sure that he was treating you properly," he told her. Ilia's face softened slightly and she began to chuckle, It evolved into a full-blown laugh and she took a seat on her bed as she doubled over, stopping for a moment to glance up at his confused face. It started all over and he found himself filled with confusion. "What's so funny?"

"I'm not interested in anyone! I've been messaging Mr. Arc all the time, he's been counseling me and giving me advice since the first day of school!" She blurted out as she continued her unbridled cackling. "A little on the jealous side Titus?" Titus smirked as he rubbed his nose gingerly. He shook his head.

"It's not like that," he explained. "I think of you, Neela, and Eliana as family. The three of you remind me of my three younger sisters. I'm not sure that I could ever think of you that way after getting to know you and having you on my team." She looked at him, noting that his eyes were soft for the first time since she had met him. He meant every word that he had just said and while Ilia was comforted by them, she found it a tad painful. To say that she wasn't at least slightly attracted to him would have been a bold-faced lie. She smiled moving over to him and checking his nose.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"It hurts more than I thought it would," He told her, seething as she touched it. He pushed her hand away. "Could you hit me harder next time?" She clicked her tongue.

"Oh I can always make it harder," she told him. "Is that a challenge, because I can definitely make it hurt worse next time." He grinned.

"Is that so?" He asked coyly. She folded her arms as she stepped away from him.

"Don't believe me?" She asked.

"Oh I believe you," he told her as he moved to the bathroom. "I would just prefer you didn't break it, that's all."

Cobalt stood at the top of the steps at the end of the hall, Tawney standing beside him as he took a last second to contemplate his decision. He would push himself to knock on the door, asking Ilia if she would be interested in going on a date with him in Vale, maybe they could catch a movie or have dinner. He rubbed his hands together nervously. He coughed and looked back down the stairs as Tawney gripped his shoulder.

"You can do this," Tawney told him trying to reassure him. "March down to their room and tell her how you feel. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Well, in this one anime I watched, this maid with blue hair professed her love for the main character and he…" He cringed and writhed in pain as she yanked on his shoulder and dug her nails in.

"Don't bring up anime, this isn't an anime. This is real life," she told him. "I'll walk you to the door." He nodded at her in thanks and they proceeded down the hallway to the room, Cobalt's fist inches from the door, ready to rap his knuckle against it before he heard Ilia and Titus talking to each other.

"Are you okay?" Ilia asked.

"It hurts more than I thought it would," Titus replied. Tawney moved closer to the door to try and listen in.

"What's going on in there?" Tawney whispered. Cobalt hushed her and listened in again.

"Oh I can always make it harder," she told him. "Is that a challenge, because I can definitely make it hurt worse next time." The two of them exchanged glances and Cobalt's face became bright red as they leapt back from the door and briskly headed down the hall, passing Neela and Eliana.

"Hey guys, what's up," Eliana asked.

"Nothing!" Cobalt blurted, clearly hiding something. Tawney was now taken with Eliana, looking her over from head to toe before glancing back at Cobalt. He was really going to do it, he was going to tell Ilia how he felt. Why couldn't Tawney do that with Eliana?

"Right," Neela agreed in disbelief. "You guys have any plans for tomorrow?" Cobalt shook his head and glanced over at Tawney who also shook her head.

"Not much really, might be training in one of the arenas so that we can make up for that short match we had today," Tawney told them. "What about you two?" Neela gave her a side glance so that she didn't seem overly curious, knowing that Tawney was also interested in Eliana to a degree.

"Probably going to have dinner with my parents again," Neela explained. All four of them stood there for a couple of seconds in an awkward moment of silence until Cobalt faked needing to stretch and glanced down the hallway, hoping that Tawney understood that he wanted to leave.

"Well, this was a great chat, but Cobalt and I are going to get heading to the cafeteria and see if there's anything left from dinner earlier before they throw it out. Cobalt's not hungry, but I'm dragging him with me for the hell of it." Tawney explained as she latched onto his arm and dragged him away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What does Coco have in mind for Team NITE and catching Stardust? Next Week - Chapter 24 - Ebony!
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	28. Ebony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Faunus is sent in to face Athena, but will they pass the trial?

Athena sat in her throne as the sun set and the remnants of its light began to disappear from the room, leaving her in a familiar darkness as nothing else provided light to the temple with the exception of the occasional torch that was lit atop every couple of pillars. She inhaled deeply, wondering if tonight would be the night that he would finally send in this new trainee to their death. She shook her head. She didn't enjoy killing them, she wanted one of them to succeed so that her plan could proceed more smoothly than ever, but it all came down to the reality that unless they possessed the same level of skill and strength that she had, they would be no match for her. In turn, they would die, their weakness would not be tolerated as it was seen as a risk to the safety of everyone in the village. Athena let out a sigh as she peered out. Perhaps she would be left with no choice but to train Crimson. It wasn't the worst case scenario, Crimson was strong and was one of the few people that Athena had ever allowed herself to be intimate with, but there was the issue that Crimson was truly a demon.

Athena had seen what the girl was capable of the day they met and maybe, just maybe, Athena should have killed her then for her own safety. However, she couldn't deny the girl's strength and that she would be a powerful player in her overall plan for revenge on Yang and Blake. They had killed her brother, and for that, they needed to be punished. Not by death, but by a redistribution of the pain that they had caused her. Then she would kill them. Not for killing her brother, but for…

"Good evening," a voice called out, piercing through Athena's thoughts. Her breath caught and she smiled as she exhaled, her hand lightly falling from her chin to her side, where she felt Wither's handle and caressed it gently. Surely this wasn't the girl that Joseph was sending, was it? The point of their last training mission was to kill the target they had been assigned by any means necessary, they were to show her no mercy. But this new student had just called out to her prey, ruining and eliminating the element of surprise. Athena found herself holding back an instant urge to call back in return, instill a fear in the girl that would escape her only moments before she died through her eyes, gasping for air as a sign that she acknowledged her weakness, and that would never have been worthy of protecting Athena. This girl was bold, but this flaw made her foolish. Athena was going to savor the moment, and the seconds that followed as Joseph would run in from his usual hiding spot.

He would scold her and this time, she would not hesitate to kill him. Crimson would be more than enough to carry out Athena's endgame, and she was tired of dragging Joseph along simply due to his loyalty. Granted, he was a powerhouse and was near invulnerable when he charged at people, but she found the ram Faunus to be more of a hindrance. She listened closely for the girl's movement but a long moment passed without an audible advance and Athena wondered if she had given up. Perhaps she had left, knowing just from the air in the room that it was a bad idea and that death was imminent. Athena smirked.

"Joseph has given me very little information about you," she said. Athena was beginning to wonder if this was some kind of joke. The girl sounded closer, but it wasn't possible, a shadow would have been cast from the poor lighting above, or Athena would have heard her approaching. What annoyed her more than either of those facts was the fact that the potential apprentice had just told her opponent that she was aware of being at a disadvantage. Why would anyone do such a thing unless they were well aware of the fact that they were stronger and were psyching their victim out, or they knew that they were, in fact, weaker, and wanted to boost the ego of their rival, hoping that pride would get the best of them. Athena was aware that it was the latter and still remained motionless, waiting for the girl to show herself before she would make her move.

"It would seem that he has set you up for failure, wouldn't you agree?" Athena asked smiling as she peered out across the room looking for any trace of the girl.

"As I'm sure that you are well aware of madam, my former teacher was Raven Branwen. In a clan such as hers, you are taught until it is instinct that failure is not an option. So you go about obtaining the information you need by any means necessary," she replied. Athena felt a fleeting moment of panic. This girl sounded close. She ruled out invisibility due to the fact that she hadn't been able to hear her, and it was impossible that a person could communicate while teleporting, let alone teleport that slow unless she was phase shifting. Even that left a person vulnerable if the fighter opposing her knew where and how to strike. Without warning a mass leapt out from the shadow of Athena's throne, as if it had been one with the shadow itself, and lunged in for a strike, giving her a split second to think about avoiding the attack. She swapped spots with Joseph and chuckled as she knew the girl would be shocked. She could picture her face now…

Athena became suddenly aware of what was around her as her mind slowly focused on her new environment and she smelt blood, looking at the ground below her to see Joseph's horns lying beside her feet. Athena was frozen with amusement as she glanced down the wall towards the entrance of her temple. She looked down again. She knew. The girl knew how she would try and evade because when Joseph had refused to give her the information she required she forced it out of him. He was dead before she had swapped spots with him. Athena's mind scrambled and she couldn't fully determine whether this proved that the student was strong or insane. She swapped spots with an anchor, a small wooden idol that she had hidden behind the throne for such an occasion and held her breath as she remained crouched behind it. She listened for a moment, hearing the girl breathing hard, the thought of killing Athena so easily had clearly worked her up.

Athena swapped places with another idol in the corner of the room that was the least lit and the furthest from the door.

"You should feel privileged. I'm going to ask you your name before I kill you," Athena replied as she unsheathed her sword. She watched as the girl looked around her slowly, trying in vain to spot her foe.

"Ebony. I'm still a bit disappointed that you aren't dead," Ebony replied. Athena shook her head as she prepared to swap places with Joseph's dead body and attack the girl as she was turned away from the throne.

"It'll take more than a few parlor tricks to get rid of me, child," Athena replied. Athena felt a sudden chill and quickly turned around, meeting Ebony's weapon with her own blade. It was a small dagger that was slightly curved, connected to an identical dagger at the bottom of the handle. Athena swapped places with the corpse, taking her throne back and glaring at Ebony in the corner. The one that had first attacked her collapsed into smoke and was absorbed back into the shadow on the ground. Athena glanced back up at Ebony who grinned as she stepped back into the middle of the carpet leading to Athena's seat. What was this sensation that was slowly sweeping over Athena's body? It was unnerving and Athena didn't welcome it, her grip becoming slightly tighter on Wither as she prepared herself. Had Joseph done it? Had he found her equal?

_Nonsense._

Athena rushed forward and the girl threw the daggers, the projectile spinning violently through the air only to be batted down by Wither as she approached her target. Ebony flicked her left wrist, a flat triangular blade slid out over her knuckles from her black lace gloves that covered from her elbow down to her hand where it came to a point at her middle finger. Two identical blades sprung out to both sides from above and beneath the first, giving her three daggers that sat on the top of her hand and extended out four inches from the edge of her fist. With a quick movement as Athena came in for the attack, she ensnared the sword between her claws, throwing it away and disarming Athena.

Athena knocked the girl's bladed fist away, only for Ebony's daggers to strike against her arm and she teleported to the idol nearest to her blade, in shock that the girl had landed an attack. How was that possible, her blades had fallen to the floor? Athena grabbed her katana up off of the floor and charged in as the daggers arrived back at Ebony and she threw them again. It was then that Athena spotted the thin string of air Dust that was allowing her opponent to pull them back to herself. Athena dodged them, slicing through the string as she watched Ebony disappear into the shadows on the floor. She slid to a stop and quickly turned as she barely found the time to deflect the daggers again.

Ebony attempted her shadow ability again and Athena slid across the floor as she switched places with the daggers, running Ebony through as she reformed again. Athena grinned for a moment before the clone floated away in a black cloud and the daggers struck her again. She pulled it out of her arm and watched as her aura healed the wound. How was she this good? She had heard rumors of Raven Branwen, the woman had wiped out every small village in the Kingdom of Mistral, but she never anticipated that one of Raven's protégés would be as powerful as the legend itself. But even this girl had a weakness and Athena had managed to pick up on it slowly. She whipped the dagger up at one of the torches and watched as it landed in a pile of hay below. The hay had been kept in the temple much to Athena's disliking, but finally came in handy and she watched as the room was lit up entirely by the growing flame, leaving little to no shadows for Ebony to take advantage of.

The girl would be forced to retreat and without her daggers. Athena had celebrated too soon and watched as the daggers returned to their owner, Athena could only reason that during one of her instances throwing them she had reattached the string, most likely the final throw. She stared down the girl for a long moment and watched as she charged Athena. Athena was in slight disbelief, but she teleported back to the idol behind her throne and watched the fire blazing before her as Ebony found her again.

"Not so powerful without your shadows, are you?" Athena asked smugly. She knew that the girl would never stand a chance against her, and all that she needed to do now was play the girl into her hands and she would claim victory. The girl reached into her pocket on the tight-fitting black leather pants that she wore and threw what appeared to be a smoke bomb on the ground. It exploded, throwing a giant pillar of rock up behind her and she disappeared. Athena felt the rage that she had kept in check for years now start to boil up and try to escape. The girl had created another shadow using the earth Dust, and had gotten away! She reappeared in front of Athena, both of them grappling each other to prevent the other from attacking.

"Like I said before…" Ebony grunted. "I will do whatever I need to do to ensure my survival, failure is not an option." Athena head-butted the girl who rejoined the claws into a single stacked blade in the middle of her fist, desperately trying to jam it into Athena's neck. Athena growled at her opponent keeping her in place as long as she could before realizing that she needed to do something. Despite how light her sword was, there was no doubt that Ebony could strike faster with her daggers or claws. Athena teleported both of them to an anchor out in the woods and it disoriented Ebony enough that she was able to push her away and teleport again, switching places with a log she had spotted nearby.

Athena's breath was heavy as she gasped for air. Her own father rarely ever pushed her this hard, how was this girl matching her with ease? She looked up at the moon, realizing that it was playing devil's advocate, casting shadows everywhere with some assistance of the tree branches above and Athena sprinted for the path which was littered with lanterns. It would be bright enough to give Athena the leverage she needed to take control once again. She took off for the path, stopped short by Ebony as she attempted to stab Athena in the gut. Athena swapped places with the girl, the experience once again throwing her off. She blocked the attack with ease and mounted her own offensive, getting in two solid slices against the girl's arm before she retreated to the shadows, allowing Athena to proceed towards the path once more.

She reached the path and stopped for a moment as she heard screaming from the village, glancing back to notice that her entire temple had gone up in flames and it was slowly crawling towards the village. Confusion set in and Athena was lost for a moment. Perhaps she needed to concede. At this rate, their fight was going to destroy the entire village, which was something that Athena couldn't risk. At the same time, her pride was on the line, and no one had ever been able to defeat her at one on one combat with the exception of her father. She felt torn but was cut short of making a decision as Ebony arrived again and they exchanged glancing blows, teleporting and shifting through shadows around each other as members of the village ran into the woods with buckets of water.

* * *

Crimson slowly woke up to find that someone was banging on her door and she quickly dressed as she equipped her weapon, moving to the door and throwing it open. She knew that it wasn't Athena, as Athena would have simply let herself in instead of knocking like some kind of maniac, and she wasn't surprised to find the village elder outside. The fact that he had come to wake her up meant two things, and both of those things were extremely discomforting to Crimson. The first was the fact that there was an emergency. The second was the realization that it meant Athena wasn't at home or in the temple. Crimson quickly closed her door behind her.

"What is it, Steele?" She asked.

"Can't you hear it? Turn around!" He exclaimed. Her ears slowly adjusted and she found the noise that was in question as she gingerly spun to find that the temple was burning to the ground, or at least the parts of it that were constructed out of wood were. However, since the fire had started, it had grown out of control and was climbing down the slight incline towards the small markets nearest to the village gate. Faunus ran in a panic, trying to put it out with water and those with useful semblances putting them to good use and delaying the flames. "What do we do?"

"Keep doing what you're doing!" She exclaimed as she took off.

"What if it's not enough?!" He called back.

"It'll have to be!" Crimson replied. She took off out of the settlement and as she made her way up the path she spotted her beloved who seemed to be in a heated battle against a girl who was probably close to the same age as Crimson and was using a curved dagger to fight Athena. Crimson rushed in and swiped her mimicking rod against Wither, forming the blade in her own hand. Ebony leapt back and pulled apart her curved daggers, holding one in each hand. "Athena!"

"Crimson! This is my fight!" Athena shouted at her running in and blocking a barrage of swings from Ebony as Crimson watched on for a moment in confusion. What was happening? The only reason that Athena wouldn't want her to get involved was if… It hit her all at once. This was the new apprentice that Joseph had been training. Crimson gritted her teeth and tightly gripped her blade until her knuckles became white. This girl was giving Athena more trouble than any of the others ever had. Crimson tried to act quickly.

"I knew we shouldn't have let the Branwen clan in with us!" Crimson cried out. "Say the word Mistress and I will strike her down!" Athena grunted as she was knocked back and she teleported away as Ebony disappeared.

"Do you really think now is the best time to be questioning my decisions?" Athena yelled from the woods. Crimson watched as she dashed by through the treetops, Ebony's daggers occasionally flying past Athena as she kept the girl busy by teleporting and moving constantly. "Stay out of this Crimson. That's final!" Crimson stood in disbelief and defeat as her arms fell limp. This couldn't be happening… she couldn't let this happen! The apprentice was supposed to fail, that's the way that it was supposed to go! Crimson was powerless right now, however. She would destroy this girl, but she would have to wait as she could not disobey an order from her goddess.

"I will be back Mistress!" Crimson shouted and she ran up to the temple. She was going to wait to give it to her, but she knew that it couldn't wait any longer if Athena was going to win and she wanted to stay in her goddess's grace. Crimson fought the flames as she stormed into the temple and attempted to run up the stairs, only to have them collapse beneath her and land on her back in the flames that still licked away at the hay below. She was on fire and desperation set in as she rolled across the floor. The pain was too great and the flames had consumed the entirety of the main level. Perhaps this was it… perhaps she had failed her Mistress…

* * *

_Open your eyes… Please open your eyes! You killed her didn't you, you monster! She's not responding to my voice!_

Crimson slowly opened her eyes and rolled onto her side as she pain rolled through her body, finally able to find her hands and knees after a long moment, curious as to what had caused it in the first place. She looked around to find that she was in a large circle of people that she had never seen before, a fact that startled her enough, but it scared and startled her even more when she spotted her parents in a set of old-fashioned stocks, unable to move despite the fact that her father was thrashing against the wooden frame. It gave slightly, but the chains and locks were enough to eliminate any chance of escape. She lifted herself up to her feet, a loud commanding voice came from behind her, instructing her on what to do next.

"Who are you?!" It asked. She tried to look back but she felt cold metal against her neck and she shuddered as she shook uncontrollably, fear filling her body and spilling out at an alarming rate as she fell to her knees again and her chest heaved. What was this horrifying feeling? What was going on? Why were her parents locked up like that? Were they going to die? Was she going to die?! "Child, if you do not find your feet in the next couple of seconds I will make sure that you no longer have feet to find!" Crimson became rigid but she understood the importance of listening to this woman and she stood quickly, despite her constant trembling. Nausea filled her stomach and threatened to spill itself onto the earth before her, but she forced it back as she felt the blade against her neck again. She swallowed hard.

"Get away from her!" Her father shouted. She looked at him, she could see the fear in his eyes. Her mother's eyes filled with tears that continued to pour and refused to stop. Her eyes were so red. The person in charge laughed softly and removed the sword from her neck, allowing her to breathe slightly easier as she turned her attention from Crimson.

"Or what? What will you do if I don't get away from her?" She asked. She moved to the Crimson's ear and bit lightly on the corner of it, causing her to jerk away and the woman chuckled. "She's cute. I think I'll keep her."

"You're a monster!" Crimson's mother screamed. Crimson felt the blade against her neck again instantly and the woman clicked her tongue.

"Call me a monster one more time and we're going to find out if your daughter here has a scream that is as pretty as her face!" She yelled. Crimson lost her nerve and began to cry, trying to remain as still as possible as she began to sob.

"Why are you doing this?" Crimson asked weakly. "What did we do?!" Crimson sobbed, no longer caring what happened. She only wanted to be free of the terror that she felt, and the sword was removed once again.

"This isn't your fault child. This is simply an act of circumstance. Your parents wanted to give you the best life that they could, seeing how you are a Faunus and all, so they decided that they would hand you over to the White Fang for safe keeping. The only problem with that is the fact that they came across my village and asked if I would let you in, but this village is supposed to be secret and your parents are cowards," the woman explained. She walked around the girl, now standing in front of Crimson. Crimson could see that she was slightly taller than herself and had red hair. Her outfit was fit for a warrior with such authority, but also struck terror deep within. "They were going to drop off their beloved daughter and run. I have a very low tolerance for cowards…"

"What is she talking about?" Crimson asked. Her father glanced between the warrior and his daughter. "You said that we were heading to Vale to get clothes."

"Crimson, your mother and I thought that if a war broke out between the humans and Faunus that you would be safer if you were a member of the White Fang. The new general in Atlas is constantly wiping out the Fang in Northern Vale and we feared with tensions running this high that it was only a matter of time before Remnant was caught up in a war again," he explained, guilt dripping from his words.

"Why wouldn't you and mom stay and help fight?" Crimson asked. He averted his eyes and the woman glanced back at the girl.

"I'll tell you why Crimson," the woman spoke. "When I was younger my brother and my father recognized the fact that my power was far greater than any that Remnant had ever seen before. They locked me away because they wanted to protect me from the evil of the world, the people that would want me dead because of my power." She looked at Crimson. "Do you have a great power?"

"I don't know," Crimson said. She looked back at her father. "Do I?" He averted his eyes again and the warrior chuckled.

"Admission of guilt," she said. She walked over to Crimson's father and crouched so that her face was close to his. "Tell her." She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at Crimson. "Tell your daughter that you are afraid of her and that you're simply too weak to be okay with that fact! That's what my family did! They knew that they were weak, and they locked me away for years!" The warrior nailed Crimson's father in the jaw before standing back up and walking around the circle, watching as the man spit out blood. "We must be strong! I will ensure our survival by only allowing the strong to join us!"

"Please," Crimson begged. "Don't kill them." The woman looked down at her and slowly approached, handing Crimson the sword in her hand.

"I like you Crimson. I see a lot of myself in your eyes. I'm going to give you a chance to stay here with me. You will not die. You will be allowed to live. I only have two conditions," she stated. Crimson looked over at her.

"What are they?" Crimson asked.

"You may never leave," the warrior stated. Crimson slowly nodded. She could think of worse things that might be required of her. The woman moved to her ear and whispered the next part softly. "You must kill your parents." Crimson's eyes grew wide and she shook her head, stepping back from the redhead.

"No… Please, I can't do that!" Crimson shouted. The warrior reached her in a few short strides and grabbed her by the neck.

"Why not?! They were going to abandon you! What good are they?! What good are cowards?! If war comes, they will die! If it doesn't come, perhaps Grimm?! Remnant and its gods do not favor the weak and the scared, it favors the powerful and the determined. It favors us Crimson!" She told the girl. She frowned as she set Crimson down. "And if you do not kill them… All three of you shall die…"

"Athena…" came a voice from the crowd. Athena turned away to find the voice.

"Joseph, not now!" She shouted. Crimson charged at Athena who smiled and swapped places with her father, the blade driving deep into him. There was an audible gasp from the crowd and Crimson trembled as she realized what had happened.

"Dad…" She managed hoarsely. The blood trickled down the blade as she stood motionless, shock paralyzing her and keeping her in place. Athena swapped out of the stocks with Joseph and moved through the crowd, back to the middle of the assembly. "Dad… I…"

"I was trying to protect you Crimson," he grunted coughing up blood. "You don't remember…"

"Remember what?!" Crimson demanded. The blood poured over the hilt and streamed down to her hands.

"Let go of the weapon…" He gasped as he passed on. The moment the liquid met her fingers, her eyes grew

wide and her claws extended, her body convulsing with rage. She looked at her hands, the smell of his blood overpowering her. What was this?!

"This is the power that they were so afraid of!" Athena exclaimed. "This is the truth that they were hiding from you! They were afraid of the things you'd accomplish if you knew!" Crimson's body was on fire and all that she wanted was to eliminate this sudden pain and ecstasy that coursed through her. She ran to her father's body, planting the blade in further and ripping open his chest cavity with her hands, causing the audience to shriek. Athena laughed maniacally and turned back to her people. "Stay! Stay and witness the power of my newest disciple!"

Deep down Crimson wanted to stop what she was doing, but she was being drowned in the pleasure of the blood that drenched her body, her mind slowly twisting and bending permanently around what Athena had told her. They wanted her to be weak, but she would show them what her true strength was! Crimson moved to her mother and in a flash had torn her apart and thrown her on the ground as Athena calmly walked over to her father and pulled her sword out of the corpse. Athena was pleased and her people were scattering in fear now as Crimson looked out at them with wild and crazed eyes. Athena looked back at her pet, a smile still plastered on her face.

"I need more!" Crimson cried out in pain. Athena swung her sword through the air for show and took a step towards the girl.

"That was a beautiful display of power Crimson! I want you to stay with me, child! Imagine the things that we would be able to accomplish together!" Athena stated. Crimson attacked her and was swatted away with Wither, forcing the girl to scurry away, moving back to her mother and rubbing more of the blood all over herself.

"I want more!" She demanded. She rushed Athena who moved to block her again, but as Athena guarded Crimson slid past and her claws tore through Athena's cloak. Athena leapt back in shock, Crimson keeping pace and tearing through again, just missing Athena's body and drawing any blood. Could this girl go further? Could she push past limits that even Athena wouldn't be able to keep up with? Athena swapped placed with one of the stocks, Crimson's claws destroying the wood as she searched frantically for her target.

"More what child?" Athena asked her, watching as Crimson found her again and slowly moved towards her. "Is it the blood that is calling out to you, or is something more? The feeling of something more?" Crimson stopped a few feet from her, beside the other stock as Athena had slowly been backing away from the girl. "Is it the want of something more?!"

"I don't know!" Crimson screamed. She moved to charge at Athena but Athena swapped spots with the other stock, swinging around and batting her in the head with the sword's hilt. Crimson cringed and stumbled at the pain, allowing Athena to teleport back to the spot she had been at before and grapple Crimson, holding the blade to the girl's neck as she struggled and panicked. The bloodlust had left her eyes and she was filled only with fear as this murderous demon looked deep into her soul. She was going to die!

"Tell me Crimson. Tell me why I should allow you to live?!" She pulled the girl closer, the blade now pressing gently against her neck. Crimson began crying, gasping as fear sank in and quickly took hold of her body. Athena thought that she was pathetic and she found no use for the girl, despite her power. "Do you want power or not?" Crimson looked back into Athena's eyes and saw something that she hadn't earlier. The same thing that she had felt before she saw burning in Athena's soul. They wanted the same thing, and it wasn't the blood… It was power.

"Y- Y- Yes, Mistress," Crimson replied weakly. Athena's eyes soften slightly and she lowered the sword.

"What did you say?" Athena asked. Crimson nodded as she sniffed hard.

"Yes, Mistress. You're right. There is no room for weakness if we are going to survive…" Crimson thought her words over. "No, if we are going to rule this world." Crimson felt overwhelming relief and joy as Athena's mouth twisted into a grin.

"Mistress?" Athena asked. She slowly set Crimson on her feet and looked the girl over. She glanced past Crimson and placed her arm around her, leading her towards the temple. "I think I've found what I was looking for."

* * *

Crimson slowly came to as she rolled onto her back, palming her weapon on her hip as she noted that fact that she was still on fire and her aura was on the brink of breaking and leaving her vulnerable to being turned to ash. She was left with no choice at this point.

She removed her weapon and gripped it tight in her hands, the rod slowly sliding apart, a light blue orb of light forming in the middle of it and growing. She had only ever used the power inside of her weapon once and from what Athena and she knew about it, it was only to be used under the most extreme circumstances. Each time she used it, the energy inside taxed her body so hard that it took years off of her life, stealing her lifeforce from her in exchange for a power that both her and Athena were always in search of. She activated it, watching as the light exploded and filled the room with its impact, putting out the fire in an instant and turning Crimson into a hybrid ice demon. Half of her body now coated in ice but had actually become ice itself, and the weapon gave her the ability to do this with any Dust.

She seethed as an unbearable pain battered her body, but she stood regardless of the fact and made her way towards another set of stairs so that she could reach the object she desired on the second floor. Crimson retrieved the item from its hiding spot and unwrapped it from the black cloth that swaddled it.

The blade was one of the last things that Athena needed to complete her plan, and Crimson had taken the initiative and retrieved it an entire month early, along with its sheath. Wilt and Blush, the weapon set that had been in Athena's family for many generations, and with each Taurus it bestowed upon them a new ability, each more interesting than the previous. Much like the Muramasa blade of legend, when the sword had been wielded by Benjamin Taurus, it was said that each kill trapped the soul of the victim inside, only to be unleashed later to give strength to the wielder. Adam had the ability to slice clean through aura and armor with the blade, making him a most dangerous foe. However, the idea of what Athena claimed it allowed her to do almost seemed unfair.

Athena told Crimson that the blade had chosen her and in addition to her absurd power that her family had feared, it caused them to fear her even more. Whoever she killed with the blade would surrender their semblance to the weapon, allowing Athena to use it at will. Crimson gripped it tight and made quick work of the stairs as she landed on the main floor and paused for a moment before running out of the building. She sniffed hard at the air, noting that there was the stench of burning flesh, but also fresh blood. She scanned the room, finding Joseph and relishing in his death before gutting him and spilling more blood, accepting his apology and bathing as much of herself as she could in it. She felt alive, the pleasure of the blood counteracting the pain of the Dust controlling half of her body. She ran out to the forest, immediately covering her eyes as the area was now filled with smoke that stung her vision.

She held her rod in her hand, Wilt now sheathed inside of Blush at her side as she peered through in desperation to find her Mistress. The rod called out to her, whispering in her ear what she should do, but she was afraid of losing what control she had left over herself, and she feared that she might cause irreversible damage. She needed to make a decision quickly, the Dust reminding her that she would never be able to forgive herself if her Goddess died because she was too weak to do the right thing, to do what must be done. Crimson felt the energy become wind Dust and she cast it out, dampening the smoke and pushing the flames away from her, putting out the smaller ones and causing the villagers to scramble even more in their struggle with protecting their homes.

There it was! Crimson sprinted into the woods, further and further as she knew that she would soon be reaching the edge of the road that led through the countryside and continued to the City of Vale. The pungent odor that was filling her even more the closer she came to it was unsettling, as she recognized the smell of the blood, meaning that it had to belong to Athena and not her opponent. This was a feeling of panic, and it was one that she had only felt once before, long ago when Athena was threatening her own life. The roles were reversed. Crimson had to make it in time.

"Athena!" Crimson called out, hoping that her mistress had gotten over her need to display her superiority over the new student. Athena had never had to push it this far before, it was rare that she ever fought outside of the temple, a few moments were all that she normally needed to prove herself as all-powerful. Crimson came up short, spotting the two of them, Athena stumbling across the dirt road as Ebony shoved her out, the younger girl barely seemed winded. What had Raven trained this clan for, were they even human? And if they were, how had they learned to push themselves past natural physical limits, had the instinct to survive no matter the cost brought them to this level of skill? Had Crimson and Athena not fought as hard as this girl for their own survival?

Crimson tore out, sliding to a stop in front of her mistress as Ebony moved in for the kill, her daggers plunging deep into Crimson's arm which was now entirely made of ice, there was no skin or bone that could be made out and it caused Ebony a momentary pause. Athena seethed as she reached up, lightly gripping Wilt as she stood.

"I told you to stay out of this," Athena told Crimson.

"Was I supposed to let you die?!" Crimson asked. Athena grunted and quickly flicked her hand, activating Blush and firing the sword into the air. Athena switched places with the flying blade, throwing her own sword over Crimson as she was lifted high above them, it landed where Ebony had been, and the girl had sunk once again into the shadows on the ground.

"Lightning!" Athena yelled as she began falling to the earth. She swapped places with Wilt again as Crimson lit up Wither, the lightning crawling across the ground and forcing the darkness to spit up Ebony who fell onto her back writhing. Athena caught Wilt out of the air and swapped places with Wither, standing above Ebony for a long moment. Her chest heaved as she looked down at the girl who still showed no fear, only contempt as she forced herself to ignore the pain of the attack and stare into Athena's eyes.

"Kill me then!" Ebony demanded. "Isn't that what you do to everyone that fails you?!" Athena realized the girl had it wrong and she looked back at Crimson.

"I'll deal with you later," She told her handmaiden, pointing at her in disgust like a master scolding their pet. Crimson knelt as the bloodlust and Dust wore off, revealing that she indeed still had an arm, but the arm was covered in burns and the onset of pain was sudden. She gripped it hard and cringed. "As for you Ebony… You have heard wrong my child." Ebony tilted her head as Athena extended a hand and helped her to her feet.

"Joseph told me…" Ebony managed before Athena pulled her close and shoved herself against the girl's body.

"He was a fool! And he was weak! I do not kill failures, I kill weakness because when there is no weakness left, there will only be strength!" Athena shoved her away. She glanced down at Crimson before turning back to Ebony. "You have pleased me, Ebony. You will train at my side, and soon we will show this world the strength that it lacked all along…"

_Where is she? Tell me where she is!_

"… As soon as I have my revenge."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It appears that Athena has finally found an apprentice to assist her along her path. Next week, Chapter 25 - Fear and Disappointment!
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	29. Fear and Disappointment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake finds out that Wilt and Blush are now in the possession of the White Fang. Also, will Eliana agree to a date... with Tawney?!

Blake sat at the back of the ammunition store as she waited for the place to clear out before she would head up to the counter and talk to the vendor about getting a discount on a large quantity of Dust. Seeing how it would be for a group of students up at Beacon who would be protecting Remnant in the future, the man normally didn't have a problem with their agreed upon payment, but if he offered the same deal to anyone else, he knew that he would be run out of business, and so they had a mutual unspoken agreement that they would only agree to the transaction if the store was empty. Once she was done here she would ride the airship back up to the school and meet with Glynda so that they could discuss the week's upcoming events, such as the school dance in this week's case. Blake still remembered the dance, if only vaguely due to lack of sleep and the incrimination of her teammate Ruby for a crime she didn't commit, though Ozpin didn't believe that she had for a moment.

She had "gone" with Sun and Yang alone, but the two of them shared more dances than any of the couples combined at the time, not to mention that the legend of JNPR's dance could only be rivaled by that of Qrow, who states that they tricked him into wearing a skirt to the dance, though Tai swore that it was the first day of classes. It was hard to tell which the truth was, though Tai's held more water seeing as Qrow's mind had undoubtedly been altered by the amount of alcohol he had consumed over the years. The other pressing issue that Blake was nervous about was that Glynda had willingly agreed to was letting the kids take on the Stardust Gang.

Granted, Team NITE was better prepared than Team RWBY had been when they had taken on Neo, Torchwick, and the White Fang when they were in school, the results were less than desirable back in the day. Blake would always be nervous for Neela, despite the fact that she knew Neela could take on anything. She glanced up at the TV, whatever had been on before was abruptly interrupted and the loud jingle that blared before special news reports could be heard throughout the small shop.

"We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this special news bulletin," Lisa's voice thundered, drawing the attention of a few more patrons before they dismissed the alert and returned to their conversations with each other in the queue line. "It is now being disclosed that in the early hours of yesterday morning, the City of Vale Police Department's Armory and Weaponry Lock Up Facility had been snuck into and the weapon's known as Wilt and Blush have both been stolen." Blake's breath caught in her chest and her eyes locked on the television as she slowly stood and covered her mouth, her hand trembling slightly.

"No…" She barely managed as she felt years of anxiety rush back to greet her.

"The police were unable to get a good look at the perpetrator's face and their security feeds have all failed to identify the thief as well, they avoided killing any officers, simply stealing the weapon. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the weapon, it is a long red katana with a rifle sheathe, used by Adam Taurus of the White Fang. The weapon had been placed in the care of the authorities after a joint sting operation between the combined forces of the Atlas Army and Team RWBY left Mr. Taurus dead and the White Fang disbanded. There is currently no indication that the thief is a former member of the White Fang, but we will have more information during the 10 o'clock news this evening after it becomes available." Blake stumbled out the door and into the street where she stood on the curb, letting her mind readjust and fumbling with her scroll as she removed it and managed to call Yang.

"Hey Blake, what's going on?" Yang asked. Blake glanced both ways down the street before she walked back towards the piers where her airship would be waiting.

"The news!" Blake blurted out, covering her mouth and hoping that no one was listening. "Yang, someone stole Wilt and Blush!"

"What are you talking about Blake?" Yang asked her. Blake rubbed her forehead, stopping on the corner for a moment and waiting for the light to change so that she could continue on her way. Everything was too surreal for a long moment and Blake was being washed over with an overwhelming feeling of guilt and the flashbacks began rushing back in. A greater fear started sinking in, a pain that Blake was feeling for someone else. The idea of the White Fang being back reminded her of the pain that they had put Yang through when Adam took her arm. There was a worse feeling yet that crashed into her.

She remembered the pain that she saw on Neela's face when they found her and saved her that day. An unnatural and unhealthy fear of humans that they had created in Neela, she looked as though she had seen a ghost, or worse. The last thing that Blake wanted was for Neela to have to be reminded of that pain, and she feared that if the Fang returned, Neela would remember the pain and fear that they forced upon her. Blake knew that Neela was strong… but she also knew how hard it was to cope with something that was psychologically damaging. It was worse than physical pain. It was the reason that Neela had separation anxiety, though she never talked about it.

"I was buying ammunition for Neela and her friends when an alert played on one of the monitors in the shop," Blake told Yang. "They said that someone snuck into the station and stole Wilt and Blush from the lockup."

"What would they need with that?" Yang asked. "We killed Adam, he didn't give us a choice."

"I know. But it had to be someone that escaped. Someone must have. Everyone we caught was locked up for life in Atlas, and everyone else was killed by that psycho General Admon," Blake told Yang. "No one else knew where we put the weapon!" Yang knew what Blake meant. The public had been told that Wilt and Blush were placed in the lockup at the police station for safekeeping, but before the council was set up, Team RWBY had made special provisions to lock it up elsewhere with the help of Ironwood, Winter, and Glynda. The news report was a cover, at least ten men would have died in order for this person to have been able to steal those weapons.

"I'm sorry, babe. I take it you're still on your way to meet Glynda?" Yang asked.

"Yeah. I'll be okay. Just do me a favor and get a hold of Ruby, okay?" Blake asked.

"Of course," Yang replied. "I love you."

"I love you too Yang." They hung up and Yang looked back at Shadow who was sitting at the table coloring. The White Fang was back? Was it possible? She was sure that if there was any solid proof Ruby or Qrow would have told them about it, but neither of them had mentioned anything. Yang tried to call Ruby at first, but she didn't pick up, and Yang tried Qrow. He picked up after about the fourth ring.

"Well if it isn't my favorite Xiao Long. How's it going kiddo?" Qrow asked as she heard him clearing his throat as though he had just taken a rather large swig of alcohol, but as much was to be expected.

"I'd like to say that this is just a social call, but I'm actually calling for Blake. She heard something this morning on the news and I was wondering…" Yang began to ask him about it but was cut off.

"Yeah, it happened. I'm guessing you tried to call your sister first but you weren't able to get a hold of her," Qrow told her. Yang sat at the table with Shadow, handing her a crayon to use and the girl smiled at her mom, laughing as she took it and started scribbling vigorously. "They decided on an emergency conference call. I wasn't invited, mostly due to the fact that all four of the big shots were available today. They're talking about the odds of the White Fang returning. And what to do about it. Like I've said before, this council just does the same thing that we used to do, just with more red tape, I could tell you what's going to happen. Ruby is going to propose that Atlas send their army to help with the situation and search the same forests as before for any White Fang activity. Vacuo is going to agree and they'll offer to send any assistance they can in the form of Dust. Sterling is going to butt in and suggest that they use his military instead this time. Ruby will agree to a joint effort."

"Been at this for quite some time, huh?" Yang asked. Qrow sighed and chuckled.

"Yeah. One of the perks of working with Ozpin for so long was gaining the ability to notice and predict these kinds of things ahead of time," Qrow told her. "To be honest, and I'd prefer you didn't tell this to Blake, I'm honestly surprised that the White Fang stayed disbanded for so long. The White Fang formed around the time of the Great War and existed as a symbol of peace until the Faunus War, which is when the Taurus family took over and turned it into a means for revolution and bloodshed, but there have always been groups like the White Fang even before they came into existence. As much as we want it, there's always going to be someone who doesn't agree with Faunus and humans living in coexistence and there will always be at least one person who goes the wrong way about trying to achieve equality."

"I know, but Blake just wants the best for this family. She wants a perfect world where the White Fang doesn't cause people to fear Faunus," Yang said. She rubbed the top of Shadow's head and smiled. "I don't blame her. Thanks, Uncle Qrow, I'll let her know that the council is going to look into it."

"Oh hey, before you go, I feel like I should tell you something," Qrow told her.

"Sure, go ahead," Yang replied.

"Your mother's clan was finally taken down, Sterling and his men put an end to her bandits and they decided to go their separate ways, it was what they felt would be best at this point. The only problem with that is while the rest of the tribe hadn't been there as long and will have an easier time integrating themselves into society, whether for better or for worse, your mother has only ever had the clan. I think that she might try to reach out," Qrow informed her. Yang leapt to her feet and stepped away from Shadow, lowering her voice.

"Tell her that I don't want to talk to her," Yang asserted.

"It's not that simple this time Yang. She may just show up." Yang's eyes grew wide and he let her process the information. "I'll try to tell her not to come, but getting a hold of her hasn't always been the easiest. I love you kiddo. Talk to you soon."

"I love you too Uncle Qrow."

* * *

Tawney pulled on her beanie and watched Neela and Eliana for a long moment from the other side of the library, why was it so hard to get the two of them away from each other, and did it even matter? She watched Cobalt the night before, he had somehow built up enough courage to ask Ilia, and he was going to go through with it. Of course, that courage and idea were crushed by suggestive audio that led both of them to believe that Titus and Ilia were intimately involved, which Cobalt had always suspected but Ilia had always denied. It was seeing that courage in Cobalt that had driven Tawney to this moment, a moment that she hoped would go down as the first of many wins against Neela. Tawney was going to ask Eliana out on a date, and she hoped that the girl would say yes, why wouldn't she?

Tawney glanced up from her book, hoping that Neela didn't notice her and watched Eliana for a long moment. No, this wasn't all about beating Neela, it was about having Eliana as her own as well. The girl was funny, cute, and all around bubbly, which caused Tawney moments of pause and she smiled as she reflected on how her life wasn't as bad as it used to be or could be. Eliana was the first person Tawney had taken interest in, there were a few guys in another one of her classes, but they were hard to compare to her. Tawney took a deep breath in as she set down her book and watched Neela stand up, saying goodbye to Eliana and walking away to go back to the dorm, or at least Tawney assumed.

Things took a strange turn as Neela turned down the walkway in the middle of the room and started making her way towards Tawney instead of leaving, sitting down at the table with her as she quickly picked the book up again and browsed through it.

"Tawney, what are you doing here?" Neela asked. "Don't say that you're studying, I've never taken you for the kind to study the Great War, let alone upside down." Tawney looked down at the book and placed it back down, looking at her hands as they fidgeted. She shook her head before looking back up at Neela. "Tawney…"

"I'm going to ask Elli out," she explained to Neela. Neela was confused for a moment.

"What do you mean?" Neela asked.

"You know what I mean," Tawney told her. "Neela, we… We're friends right?" Neela folded her arms and leaned back in her seat.

"That's a term I'd use loosely for us," Neela said.

"Neela, I'm not going to wait for you to grow a pair and ask out Elli when I feel that I have the same feelings for her," Tawney explained. Neela's eye twitched as she sat up in her chair again and leaned over the table, looking intensely into Tawney's eyes. "Eliana deserves to be pursued. We don't owe it to you to avoid her or wait for you to ask her yourself. Sure you have feelings for her, I get that, but what if she doesn't feel the same? Or what if she does, and you're just forcing her to wait when there might be someone else out there. Sometimes you just have to go for things!"

"Tawney, I will hurt you!" Neela told her as she reached across the table. Tawney swatted her hands away.

"Scared?" Tawney asked. "Are you afraid that Elli might say yes? Terrified that she might be interested?" Tawney pushed her seat back and stood up. "You need to tell her how you feel Xiao Long, and maybe this is the push that you need." Tawney walked across the room to Eliana's table. Neela stood for a moment before sitting back down, her mind ripping itself apart as she stared at the table and grabbing a fist of her hair on both sides of her head, pulling hard and seething. It wasn't as simple as Tawney had just put it. Neela couldn't lose Eliana, it would be the end of everything! It was hard for her to tell whether it would hurt more being turned down and losing Eliana, or never telling her and having her fall for someone else, watching silently the entire time from the sidelines as another person loved Eliana the way that she had been meant to. Neela panicked.

She had lost her parents, the shock hadn't hit her right away, but when it did it was a depression like no other and she got lucky, luckier than most children who had been orphaned by the White Fang. She had her new parents, Yang and Blake, and they had filled the hole that was there, but it came at a price. She didn't know that the feeling was there until the first weekend that they had tried to let her sleepover at Tai's. By the end of the first night, she had gone into a full-blown PTSD like state, screaming and thrashing as she called out for Yang and Blake, which was when Blake had determined that Neela had separation anxiety. Sure, maybe someday Neela would be able to get over it, but right now it was just easier seeing her mothers every weekend, if not every day. She felt the same about Eliana at this point.

That was the reality that kept Neela from moving any further in their relationship. Neela wondered if they would ever move to the next stage, but if they didn't, it was okay as long as Eliana didn't replace her with someone else, right? She remembered their first night, sitting out on the cliff side and watching as the moon reflected off of the waves below. It was a moment that Neela would have lived in forever. She could have been satisfied if that night had never ended. But the truth of the matter was the fact that reality didn't work like that. Time continues on and gives an endless stream of variables, unseen factors, and calculated decisions that can all be paired together to try and achieve the desired outcome, but that outcome only produces more branches to the tree.

If Eliana told Tawney yes, perhaps they would fall in love with each other and they would be together for the rest of time, a possible future that Neela didn't find satisfaction in. Or there was a chance that Eliana would still agree, but they would both find that it didn't work out as well as they were hoping and Eliana would be single once again. Maybe Eliana would say yes and they would get married and have children, only for Tawney to react like her Grandma Raven, leaving Eliana alone and tragically widowed in a manner of speaking as she raised the kids alone. She might say no, however, which would give way to the other side of the branching possibilities of the future, which had all new outcomes and twists and turns, none of which could be predicted completely or controlled. Neela just wanted to return to that night where things had been perfect, more so than they had ever been.

Neela's mind returned to the current situation and she glanced up at Tawney who had returned, swallowing hard as her rival sat down and cleared her throat, shaking her head.

"How does it feel to know that you've beaten me again?" Tawney asked as she looked at Neela. She pulled off her beanie and tossed it down on the table, clasping her nose with her hands and shaking her head. "I just… I have a hard time believing it is all. Perhaps it's my destiny to lose to you at everything."

"What do you mean lose to me?" Neela asked.

"I asked her out. You know what she told me?" Tawney asked. Neela shook her head and Tawney sat up sighing, folding her arms. "She told me that she only wanted to go if you were going to go with." Neela's eyes lit up and she glanced back at Eliana who was still busy with her homework as she had been before, a wave of relief overwhelming her and she cracked a grin, shaking her head in slight disbelief. What should she make of it? It was in her best interest to not over complicate the implications in her head, and ask Eliana about it in an indirect manner later. "I don't think you realize just how much you mean to her. It might be the same amount that she means to you."

"Tawney, I'm sorry," Neela tried comforting her. Tawney chuckled and turned away.

"Don't be. Maybe I was a touch out of line before," she admitted. "Still friends?" Neela nodded before remembering something that she had for Tawney as the girl stood to leave.

"Wait, before you leave!" Neela called out as she stood and walked around the table, handing a slip of paper to Tawney. Tawney looked it over before reading it and looking back at Neela in shock.

"Is this what I think it is?" Tawney asked. Neela nodded.

"Jeff and Casey will be performing at our school dance this week," Neela told her. "It's all you've been talking about, so I called the station later that week, was entered into the drawing, and wouldn't you know it, we won." Tawney's eyes filled with an overwhelming amount of satisfaction and joy as she looked the paper over repeatedly, barely able to contain herself. How should she react? Her eyes filled with tears and she laughed as she wiped them away. "Awesome, right?"

"Yeah," Tawney agreed nodding. "But these tears of joy are bitter." Neela tilted her head.

"Why?" Neela inquired.

"You beat me again," Tawney told her sniffing hard and laughing. She grabbed her beanie off of the table and ran out of the library, heading back to her dorm to show the rest of the team. Neela watched her leave before returning her attention to her best friend and making her way back over to Eliana.

"Hey, Elli, mind if I join you again?" Neela asked. Eliana smiled at her and the rest of the fear that Neela had felt earlier was erased and replaced with confidence.

"Hey, Neela! I thought that you said you were going to go have dinner with your parents now," Eliana reminded her. Neela rubbed the back of her neck. "What's going on?"

"I talked to Tawney as she was leaving," Neela explained. Eliana chuckled and shrugged as she continued with her work, not looking up for a moment.

"Yeah, she asked me if I wanted to go get dinner with her and then maybe go see a movie," Eliana told Neela. "It sounded kind of like she was asking me out on a date, but I'm not interested in her like that, you know? I told her that it would be cool if we could go in a group, or if you came with!"

"What happened then?" Neela asked. Eliana looked up at her.

"She said that she knew I would say that, told me that she wasn't interested in all three of us going and walked away." Eliana closed her book and placed it into her backpack as she stood at the same time as Neela. "Was it something I said?" Neela chuckled.

"I don't think so," Neela told her. Eliana walked past her towards the exit as Neela found herself lost in thought for a moment. Maybe now… Maybe now was the time to tell her… "Elli!"

"What's up Neela?" Eliana asked. She turned around and faced Neela and Neela looked her best friend over. She knew that she couldn't do it yet. For now, still just friends, and Neela would try to stop overreacting.

"Would you want to go with me into Vale tomorrow night and get dinner? We could stop by the police station to see if they have any APBs we can help with, and then we can head over to the shopping districts to get dresses for the dance," Neela told her. "Tawney can still come with if you want." Eliana laughed.

"Are you asking me on a date Neela?" Eliana asked her. Neela blushed and looked away at some of the shelves behind her.

"I don't know if I'd call it that," Neela managed to get out. "But we can go have some fun, right?" She looked back at Eliana, still beaming with that bone chilling and heartwarming smile.

"Of course. It's a date!" Eliana laughed and left the room, leaving Neela there for a long moment. Was it an actual date, or was Eliana just being her usual bubbly self?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems that Neela and Eliana have a "Date". Next week, Coco heads to Vacuo to find out what's going on with the Neo-Salems in Chapter 26 - Team CVRN!
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	30. Team CVRN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coco, Velvet, Ren, and Nora all head to the desert to pry information about what's going on in Vale out of an old informant...

Coco drove the dune buggy with Velvet in the passenger seat beside her, Ren and Nora riding in the back, Nora leaning her head on Ren's shoulder.

"Aren't we there yet?!" Nora asked. "It feels like we've been driving for hours!"

"We've only been driving for half an hour," Ren told her. "We'll be there soon enough." Coco smirked as she turned quickly, Velvet gripping her arm as the vehicle slid and Nora laughed.

"I'm just surprised at how fast airships have gotten," Coco told them. "This trip used to be way longer." Velvet smiled as she looked back at Nora and Ren.

"Have the two of you ever been to Vacuo?" Velvet asked.

"Once or twice we've been here for a mission, but we've never actually been here just to vacation. We stayed in Shade for a few days on our last assignment before we started teaching! It seemed like an okay place, the people are friendly enough to each other, but they don't care much for people who are from outside Vacuo. It's no wonder the other kingdoms are always leery of offering any sort of military help to take down threats such as Strakh," Nora told Velvet. Velvet nodded.

"Coco and I spent a few days in each of the kingdoms taking in the sights," Velvet told them. Coco smiled as she glanced back at them.

"I wanted to try out some coffee shops," Coco said chuckling.

"Where are we going now?" Nora asked.

"We're going to meet one of Coco's informants. Hopefully, he can give us more information on who hired the Stardust Gang and has insight into the possible return of the White Fang," Ren explained.

"Here!" Coco exclaimed as the buggy slid to a stop, spotting the location with one the optic filters in her sunglasses. She leapt out and unveiled a hatch hidden under the desert sand. The door was thrown open and a familiar man leapt out, though he appeared more hunched than usual and had silver strands in his long braid that dragged along the ground. The end of his tail still missing, wrapped in a fresh bandage that was slightly tethered at the end. He squinted against the sun, anger plastered on his face until recognizing the huntsmen before him and he leapt gently up and down, squealing contently.

"Why it's been so long since I've had visitors but I am not disappointed. You are perhaps my favorites, hm? Come in! I wouldn't want any of you to die of a heat stroke, what kind of host would I be?" Tyrian asked as he clapped his hands excitedly. "Come now! Inside to my humble abode!" He leapt back into the hole before Coco looked back at the others, their faces told her exactly how they felt and it was as she expected they would feel. It was why she hadn't told them in advance.

"You're crazy if you think that I'm about to climb in there with that… that…" Nora struggled to find the word.

"Lunatic?" Ren asked.

"Exactly!" Nora exclaimed. Velvet looked at Coco.

"Are you sure about this?" Velvet asked. Coco rubbed the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

"Not entirely, but he's the only lead that we have left," Coco explained to them. She looked back at Nora and Ren. "I understand if you want to wait out here." They looked at each other and shrugged, Nora chuckling nervously.

"We faced him once before," Ren told her.

"Plus there's strength in numbers, right?" Nora added. They nodded and climbed in behind Coco and Velvet. Tyrian sat on his haunches on an old tattered couch, watching them file in and bouncing up and down with glee. He spun around before lying on the couch, his head propped against his hand.

"Ohh! Ohh! Velvet! Take a picture of me so they can paint me like one of your Atlesian girls when you get back!" He exclaimed, bursting into laughter. "I've missed having people around! It's such an amazing feeling! When they aren't… You know…" He leapt to his feet as they sat. "Pissing you off!" He lunged but Coco stood between him and the others and he cackled, moving back to the couch and sitting crouched again, rocking back and forth.

"Tyrian!" Coco commanded.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Adel. I was only playing, honest," he told her, sounding like a puppy that had just been scolded. "I didn't mean any harm by it…" He looked up into her eyes and smiled wickedly. "Not like what the Rose did to my Queen."

"This isn't a social call Tyrian," she informed him. He folded his arms and looked away, pouting.

"Of course not. No one comes to just visit anymore. I mean, there's no one left to come and see me anyway, is there?" He asked peeking at her from the corner of his eye. "I wonder what happened to all of them."

"Not now Tyrian," Coco told him. He perked back up.

"No matter. What is it that you need from me?" He asked, almost seeming eager to help.

"We need any information that you might have on the White Fang or the Neo-Salem Movement," Velvet stated. Tyrian looked past Coco at the bunny before looking back at the woman and throwing his head back, losing it in a fit of unnerving laughter.

"You know as well as Coco, the Neo-Sale movement died when Salem's War ended," Tyrian stated. Ren looked up at Coco.

"Salem's War?" Ren asked. Coco gritted her teeth and moved quickly to Tyrian, grabbing his tail as he chuckled, wincing in pain between his laughter.

"May I have a word with you outside?" Coco asked him. He laughed at her question.

"Do I have a choice?" He inquired. She shoved him up the ladder, her gun in his back as she forced him out and looked back down at the others.

"We'll only be a few moments," Coco told them. She slammed him through the door and he tumbled out into the sand, grumbling as he rolled to his feet.

"Do you know the definition of profiling? Exiling me to this damned desert! You think just because I'm part scorpion I like sand?! I don't! I don't like sand!" He exclaimed.

"Exile isn't a vacation Tyrian, this was the alternative you chose over us locking you away or killing you. You aren't supposed to enjoy it. And you're well aware that talking about Salem's War in the presence of anyone who wasn't on the mission roster is in direct violation of our terms and conditions that led to the agreement of allowing you to choose this exile over the alternatives. I recommend you choose your next words carefully, otherwise, I will either be taking you back with me or removing the rest of your tail," she reminded him.

"Ask your questions and then leave," he told her. "Here I was thinking that maybe you missed me. Maybe you felt some remorse for what you did during that war…" She grappled him and threw him to the ground, grinding her boot against his chest as he struggled, his tail thrashing about. "Yes!" He cackled. "That's the look! The same look that you had in your eyes when you killed Him!" She paused for a moment before pulling her foot away and taking a few steps back. He chuckled still, leaping to his feet.

"I don't come by often, even for information, because you always remind me of my transgressions," she spoke quietly. "I had no choice but to kill him, Ozpin said that someone was going to inherit Salem's power, I couldn't let that happen, I couldn't let Her hurt the people I loved again." He stopped laughing and looked at her in deep thought for a moment. "Now when I go home from this trip, it'll haunt me for a few weeks until I can push it back down. Every time I look at my son Lamar, I'll feel this inexplicable hurt that I can't fix, because I'll look at him and see that boy, and wonder if someone would be heartless enough to do it to him. It was all instinct. It wasn't an order. I don't even know if that was the child that Ozpin spoke of."

"Don't be so dramatic, he was well aware of the reason he was there, he had every intention to kill you as well," Tyrian spat. Coco looked at him and sighed as she swallowed hard.

"Do you have any information on the White Fang?" She asked him once more. He rubbed his jaw and shrugged, licking his lips and cackling.

"Perhaps. For the right price," he told her.

"I'm not here to bargain with you," she told him as sternly as she could. He nodded and smiled.

"Good… Good!" He shouted. He moved to her quickly, his tail brushing her jawline as though he were the one who had her in his clutches. "If you can't get the information from me, then Remnant will be pushed into another war, and that's exactly what you want isn't it?" She shook her head weakly.

"No…" He slapped her face with his tail and she was dazed for a moment before slamming her purse into his crotch, sending him to the ground.

"Prove me wrong you bitch! I know your type! You're not happy… No… You can't live unless there's a war and you can justify yourself as a hero once again!" He shouted from the sand he had landed on.

"I don't want that for Velv or my son!" She screamed at him.

"Then hear my request out!" He shouted. "If you can live with causing a war, put me out of my misery!" He cackled as he rocked back and forth on the ground. She helped him up and transformed her purse back into its gun form.

"Start talking," she demanded. He raises his hands and backed away from her.

"Don't do anything rash Coco," he said holding back laughter. "All that I require is a different living arrangement, a change of scenery if you will. I want to move to Shade, I've always wondered what the city looked like. What do you say? I get to head north and you get to head home with the information that you seek." Coco shook her head.

"How about you tell me or I blow a few holes in you?" She replied. He gasped and covered his mouth, shaking his head gently.

"That simply will not do. I suppose though if you must kill me, make it quick. I shall be reunited with the Queen once again," he exclaimed dramatically, throwing his head back and placing his hand against his forehead, as though he was in the middle of his final scene in a play. "You see Mrs. Adel, there is nothing that you can do at this point that will change my mind about telling you what I know. Grant my request and I will tell you. Don't let me go and risk starting that war I keep warning you about."

"Fine," she agreed after a long moment, realizing that it was the only way she'd be able to go about getting the information out of him. He glanced at her and his mouth twisted into a sneer.

"Splendid," he replied. His tail peered at her over her shoulder, as if it had a mind of its own and he grabbed it, brushing it gently. "Now I've never dealt with them directly, but what is it that you wish to know?"

"Tell me what the White Fang is planning, or at the very least, where they're hiding," Coco instructed him. He chuckled.

"Of course!" He clapped and took a step back covering his mouth. "What do you say we have fun with it? Put on a show?!" She shook her head. She truly hated him. He threw open the door and stumbled in, crashing to the floor, groaning. "Fine! I'll give you the information, just put the gun away!" He demanded. Velvet glanced at Coco as she leapt into the hole, Nora and Ren both training their guns on him.

"Just tell me already," Coco groaned. She fired several rounds over his head and he hit the ground.

"What the hell?!" He shouted. He found his feet and raised both hands as he slowly backed up, stumbling and flopping onto the couch. "I said I'd tell you!"

"Then talk!" Coco screamed. They all looked at her for a moment and Tyrian realized that he had pushed her far enough.

"So impatient!" He answered. "Rumor has it that they are setting up in Southern Vale once again. The village that they've chosen this time is more hidden than any other location they have chosen before. So hidden in fact that I've been told anyone who comes within a quarter mile of it is immediately struck down. The attacker is so fast that no one ever sees her coming. The one person who lived to tell about it insists that the Faunus, or Grimm, protecting the village, massacred eight members of the Mistral military without ever becoming visible."

"They have the power of invisibility?" Velvet asked. Tyrian shrugged and laughed.

"Who knows?" He asked. "I'm a bit out of the loop as a whole seeing as I'm not exactly allowed to leave to go anywhere, and you're monitoring this place better than Atlas Academy."

"Who's in charge?" Ren asked. Tyrian laughed.

"Who else? A Taurus!" He blurted out. Coco lowered her gun slightly.

"What?" Coco asked.

"Rumor has it that a Taurus is still in charge," Tyrian repeated.

"But Adam is dead!" Nora exclaimed. "Yang and Blake were there. They had the Atlas military confirm it." Coco looked away, staring into the corner of the room, deep in thought.

"Perhaps it's his father," Coco offered. Tyrian rubbed his hands together.

"Perhaps, but again, my information is incomplete. The Neo-Salem Movement has been disbanded for quite a long time, so perhaps the White Fang are hiring these thieves of yours in Vale," Tyrian suggested. "Now if that's all the information that you require, I'll show you out." They left, one after the other until Coco was the last one out, thinking over the terms she had agreed to, but she was sure she had made the right decision, Tyrian was hardly a threat anymore.

"Did anyone else notice that at the end?" Nora asked as they had all climbed into the vehicle and Coco was racing back towards the coast, hoping to make the next airship.

"Notice what?" Velvet asked.

"Tyrian said that it might be the White Fang hiring Mercury in Vale, but we never mentioned anything to him about the gang," Ren said. Coco stared out as she drove. Were they right? How had she not noticed?

"The important thing now is that we get back to Beacon and report all of this to Glynda and Ruby," Coco told them.

"So what are we calling this team?" Nora asked.

"Do we really need a team name?" Ren asked.

"Oh, I know. How about Team Cavern (CVRN)?" Velvet offered with a smile.

"Or we could go with Ravenclaw (RVNC)!" Nora exclaimed. "What do you think Ren?"

"Raven's don't have claws, they have talons." Nora folded her arms and pouted.

"Killjoy."

* * *

As they raced off through the desert, Tyrian watched for a long moment as they disappeared over the dunes, removing a scroll and dialing the number he had been given.

"How did it go?" The voice asked.

"Just as planned. I've placed their focus completely on the Fang," Tyrian squealed.

"Good. See to it that you are prepared to meet me in the Spring." Tyrian grinned wickedly and pulled the hatch back open with his tail.

"Of course."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The Ravenclaw joke above is in reference to a group by the same name in our previous story, Nightshade. It wasn't until we finished the story that we came to the realization that they don't have claws, they have talons.
> 
> Coco has been informed that the White Fang are pulling Mercury's strings, but who was the man on the other end of the call? Next Week, is Neeliana on an official date?! Chapter 27: Date NITE!
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	31. Date NITE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliana and Neela go on a date?

The afternoon was slowly becoming evening and Team CBLT was feverishly working away in one of the school's many study halls, the best way that they knew how to. Cobalt was reading a manga, assuming that he was hiding the fact well enough by holding up a textbook behind it so that Tawney couldn't see what he was up to, but she knew better and reached over, snatching it away. He protested hard for a moment, flailing his arms and explaining that he had just gotten to the good part, but she wasn't having any of it. He picked up his pencil and reluctantly removed his homework. Tawney thumbed through a few of the pages, blushing at an image and sliding the book into her backpack as she removed her own work.

"Cobalt, you're never going to pass our local government exam if you don't start taking studying seriously," Tawney told him.

"How am I supposed to concentrate knowing that there's a classroom of students out there that have to murder their teacher!?" He exclaimed. Tawney reached across the table, grabbing Cobalt and dragging him across, causing Bái to snatch up her work and pull it off before it was pulled along for the ride. Tawney pressed her nose against her leader's.

"It's not real!" Tawney stated. Lykos shook his head as he ignored them and continued feverishly working on his Economics project.

"Don't say that!" Cobalt explained. "You take that back! My waifu is going to be very upset!" Bái jabbed Lykos lightly in the gut with her elbow and he glanced down at her. She blushed as he attempted a smile and she leaned over to him.

"How about we go somewhere else?" She asked. He nodded in agreement.

"Do you even hear yourself?!" Tawney exclaimed. They weren't going to get any studying done if they stayed here.

"Of course I do! I just don't know why you have a hard time believing that this stuff could be real. We fight monsters and have semblances! For all you know, this might be an anime!" He shouted back at her. Bái and Lykos snuck out of the room as they continued to fight. She grabbed his hand, stunning him for a moment as she dragged him out towards the cliff, he followed close behind her. What was going on? She laughed, causing him to smile as she came to a stop and looked out at the water and the sun that was on the verge of setting along the horizon.

"Why are we out here?" Lykos asked. She smiled as she stared out in silence for a moment.

"With my powers, I always feel calm when I'm around water," she told him as she looked back at him. "I'm not really sure what happened to my family, I barely remember anything before coming to Vale a year ago. But the possibilities are endless, right? This world becomes more and more amazing every day, things that we never thought possible are as normal as can be." He thought back on his own life and moved beside her.

"I guess you're right," he agreed with her.

"I want to tell you what happened Lykos," she told him softly. "But I'm not sure I remember enough to tell you or anyone else properly." She reached out and grabbed his hand and he looked at it for a long moment. "Thank you for protecting me this far." He pulled his hand away hard and she looked up at him.

"I'm sorry," he replied. Memories of his father flooded his mind. She felt slightly dejected and she sighed, which made him feel bad, but she returned her gaze to the ocean once more. "You're welcome Bái."

"I don't have any family left, and you've been so kind to me, more kind that you've needed to be," she told him. "I don't think that I would still be here if it wasn't for you. That boy in the forest would have either had his way with me, or I would have lost control and killed him." He looked down at her.

"I can help you," he told her. She looked back up at him, her eyes prying. "I want to help you learn how to control your power so that you don't always have accidents like you've been having." His mind was torn. Fear gripped him that he would end up treating her like his father did his mother. But hope rushed in as well, telling him that he could love her the way that his mother should have been loved. As he was lost in his own thoughts, she had moved to him and wrapped her arms around him, causing him to panic slightly as he looked down at her.

"Thank you Lykos-Kun," she expressed her gratitude once again. He rubbed her head lightly and she glanced back at the sunset. She smiled as he watched her. "I like to think that the ocean is my mother and that that's the reason that I'm so calm around water. I think she'd thank you too." Lykos sighed thoughtfully and glanced back at the school, noting Cobalt and Tawney who were watching them. Cobalt smirked and grabbed Tawney by the arm, dragging her back towards the campus. An airship docked near them and Lykos gently led Bái back, passing Ilia and Titus as they nodded in acknowledgment and boarded the ship.

"I guess you're rank at Atlas finally came in handy," Ilia told him as the ship took off and began its trip towards Vale.

"Heh. We were just lucky that there was an Atlas ship in the area," Titus said as he sat down with Ilia beside him. He grabbed the bar above him and slid forward to the front end of the ship. "If you don't mind me asking, why were you in the area? I actually had several Atlas callsigns reply to my request." The pilot chuckled.

"You kids don't have any time for news outside of training?" He asked. They both shook their heads. "The White Fang are allegedly back. Some of us were dispatched with support from the Mistral Military. We're supposed to flush them out and take them in for questioning before they do something crazy."

"How crazy?" Titus asked.

"I suppose you don't recall the Fall of Beacon seeing as you wouldn't have been old enough to remember it if you were even born at that point. They were partially responsible for that attack, and we'd like to avoid anything else like it," the pilot replied. Titus nodded and moved back to his seat, opening his scroll and shooting a message to Winter.

"What's going on, I only heard part of what he said," Ilia informed Titus.

"They think that the White Fang is back," Titus told her.

"After a little over 12 years?" She asked. "Why would they wait so long to return if they hadn't been completely wiped out?" Titus shrugged.

"Hard to say, but as soon as Winter gets back to me I'm sure I'll know more," Titus told her.

"You two kids going on a date?" The pilot chuckled. Ilia laughed grabbing Titus' arm and he shot her a look.

"Something like that!" She replied winking at Titus. He wrenched his arm away and loosened his collar.

"No! And if you don't mind, I am your superior, please stop referring to me as a child!" Titus called out.

"Yes Lieutenant General Prasinos sir," the pilot replied with a snap. Titus smirked and Ilia rolled her eyes at him.

"What?" Titus asked.

"Lighten up, would you?" Ilia asked. He brushed her off.

"What's the plan anyway?" He asked her. Ilia smiled as she leaned back on the seat, removing a black butterfly knife and tossing it around.

"Pretty simple. We find Neeliana and we see how their date is going," She reminded him. "Oh, and we stay hidden." He chuckled.

"Right, because that won't be hard with the girl who can see danger in every direction when she uses her semblance," Titus laughed.

"She won't be using it, so we shouldn't have any issues." Ilia offered.

"I feel like Neela is more paranoid than you think," Titus noted.

"Paranoid?" Ilia asked. Titus smirked.

"Perhaps paranoid is the wrong word, but she has that instinct. Trust me, I do the same thing because of my military training. I'm constantly wondering if an attack is coming and my mind is methodically processing how to limit casualties and take down the perpetrator as quickly as possible," he explained. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, nodding slowly.

"And you think that Neela is the paranoid one." Ilia chuckled. "She'll be far too preoccupied with Eliana to notice us."

* * *

What was this sensation that was crashing through Neela's body right now? It was hard to describe, something that she had never felt before, though she had always wanted to but wasn't aware of it until this moment. Maybe she was getting carried away, trapped inside another one of her fantasies where her mind would run and wouldn't stop until there was an outside force that reminded her of where she was. At the same time, however, it all felt very real, and she almost preferred this skeptical euphoria over every other emotion that she had ever encountered. She was in Vale with Eliana, and they were on a date. She had to be delirious… delusional… dreaming even!

There she was again. It was this thought that sobered her mind and brought her back around to reality. On a date with Eliana, it just couldn't be, could it? Eliana had told her it was a date, but it was just Eliana being her playful innocent self, right? She didn't mean it in the conventional sense. It wasn't like Neela and Eliana were going to go to dinner and a movie, spend hours together talking about nothing and everything then telling one another that they really liked each other. There wasn't going to be a cliche moment of bliss and ecstasy during which Neela would drop Eliana off at the dorm and tell her that she'd like to see her again, gently kissing those luscious lips that she had imagined kissing so many times she had lost count. Eliana would be shy and reluctant at first and they would pull away from it, staring into each other's' eyes, leaving Neela uncertain for a long moment before Eliana returned the kiss.

Why? Why did she have to imagine it? Why couldn't it be real? It was all that she had wanted now for quite some time, but unlike fighting, she didn't have enough courage to pull the metaphorical trigger. She was mad, wasn't she? Eliana would never leave her, even if she did confess her true feelings to her. Reality set in and told Neela that she was wrong, it was completely viable that it would scare Eliana away, and that they wouldn't be the same friends that they were now. The risk still wasn't worth the reward for Neela.

"Hey," Eliana said and Neela's obsessing shattered apart. She was violently dragged back from the dark hole that she had slowly fallen into and now stood in the main square of Vale's Shopping District, Eliana looking at her with that signature smile that reassured Neela that everything was fine and she was worried about everything for no reason at all. The evening was setting in and the streetlights lit the block dimly, illumination spilling out softly from the shops and stands of vendors helped to light the rest of the busy center, allowing them to see clearly. Normally this was the time of day that the market would close for the night and return early in the morning, but with winter just around the corner, the merchants stayed open later, knowing that every sale counted. It was a sight to behold, and the lights glinted off of the fountain in the middle, where Eliana had decided to take a seat.

"Hey," Neela replied watching Eliana, captivated but trying to avoid seeming completely taken. She chuckled under her breath. Did it matter? Eliana was completely oblivious, Neela could probably profess her feelings right now and Eliana would just smile, laugh, and dismiss her. Not because she meant to be hurtful, though it would pang Neela, but because she was so naive. To think of how far she'd come, how strong she was, and how she was on the path to becoming a great warrior like her father… but she was still so oblivious to even the simple things. That's what Neela loved about her though. She cherished her friend for being so pure.

"Having fun Ms. Xiao Long?" Eliana asked her. Neela grabbed her hand to help her up but Eliana gave her a sudden tug and they nearly tumbled into the fountain together. They giggled for a moment, Neela laughing as she leaned against the lip of the water monument.

"I'm always having fun when I'm with you Ms. Latherus," Neela reassured her. Eliana beamed and leapt to her feet, helping Neela up and brushing her off, brushing the hair out of her face. Her hand stopped for a moment at the braids and tremors tore through Neela. There it was again, the same sensation as before. "Elli…"

"How did I get so lucky to meet someone like you Neela?" Eliana asked. Neela's resolve crashed hard and she fought back the explosion of pent-up aggression, fear, and sadness. She couldn't get anything out even if she wanted to! "You're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me since my dad passed. Thanks for always being here." Tears formed in the corners of Eliana's eyes and it was more than Neela could bare as Eliana finally released her hair, relinquishing control to Neela. "You're the best friend that I could have ever hoped to have made."

"I'll always be here for you Elli," Neela said placing her forehead against Eliana's. Eliana sniffed and nodded, smiling. She never stopped smiling. Neela felt a tear slip from her own eye and smiled back.

"I know," Eliana replied. She wrapped her arms around Neela and they embraced each other for a long moment, Neela's thoughts slipping back to the cliff, Eliana's head leaning against her shoulder. There was nothing that would keep them from each other. Beyond their own parents, they were all that each other had. They pulled away from each other and Neela saw her opening. This was it. She was going to let Eliana know and the rest was up to destiny.

"Eliana I…" She began, but they were cut off as a man bumped into Eliana and they were tangled up for a moment, Neela not entirely sure what had just happened but holding tightly to Eliana despite the fact.

"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't see you there," the man trying defending himself. He wore a red flowing coat and had a grey tail, though it was close enough to silver that the color could be debated either way. Eliana leaned against Neela and smiled.

"Not a problem. Can you do us a favor by chance?" Eliana asked. He smirked and folded his arms.

"Perhaps," he replied. She looked at Neela and smiled, removing her scroll and handing it to the stranger.

"My girlfriend and I were hoping to get a picture in front of this fountain. Would you mind taking it for us?" Eliana asked. Neela blushed slightly at the thought and realization that Eliana had said that she was her girlfriend, but smiled despite the fact.

"I don't see why not. I'd be happy to," he agreed nodding. He took the scroll and framed the photo, Eliana bouncing back to Neela and throwing her arm around her as Neela did the same. "Say Beringel."

"Beringel!" Neela exclaimed. Eliana threw up a peace sign and stuck her tongue out, laughing after the camera flash finished and hugging Neela tight. She moved back over to the man and looked at the photo on her scroll.

"Perfect! Thank you!" Eliana exclaimed. "Come look at this Neela!"

"No problem," the Faunus told her before he continued on his way. Neela looked at the picture, pleased with how it turned out, but not as over the top ecstatic as Eliana.

"It's pretty good, but it could be better, don't you think?" Eliana asked. Neela gave her a puzzled look as Eliana handed her the scroll. "You take the picture, you've got longer arms than I do." Neela chuckled lining up the photo as Eliana wrapped her arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek as she captured the moment. Eliana was unphased, glancing up at the image on the scroll before snatching it away and hugging Neela. "Now it's actually perfect!" Neela's hand slowly brushed her own cheek, feeling where Eliana had kissed, her face warm as it flushed. Was she dreaming again? She nodded her head to feign slight interest, her mind reeling. What a crazy night, and it was all happening faster than Neela could keep up with it.

"It suits us," Neela agreed. Eliana shook her head and shoved Neela.

"Stop acting all tough, I know you love it too," Eliana told her. Neela cracked a smile.

"It's really good, Elli," Neela said. "Perfect in fact." She meant it wholeheartedly.

"Good," Eliana replied satisfied. She looked up and down the block for a vendor who might be selling food and motioned down the street, where there was more light pouring from and spilling onto the sidewalk, giving the city life on this breezy night. There was a familiar noise that followed shortly afterward and gave Neela a strange feeling of nostalgia. "What do you think is going on over there?"

"I'm not sure," Neela told her. She used her semblance to peer down the way and began walking towards the commotion with Eliana close behind her. She sniffed the air, the scent of hot dogs and other foods wafting through the air and gently greeting her. "It looks like it might be a street fair. One last hurrah before it starts getting really cold out…" Neela was cut off by Eliana grabbing her arm and rushing past, dragging her along for a few moments before Neela found her feet completely. What was the rush? Eliana had a tendency of getting caught up in the moment, but clearly, something had piqued her interest.

"I haven't been to a fair in so long! Remember when we used to go to the big one on the empty Vytal festival ground at Beacon every year?! Come on!" Eliana strained against Neela who laughed and ran with her friend, catching up with her. Was she excited to go to the fair? It was a mutual interest, but Neela was skeptical towards it being  _this_  exciting.

"Shouldn't we get something to eat?" Neela asked.

"Come on Neela! That can wait until after we get off of the ferris wheel!" There wasn't anyone in line, hardly anyone in the area at all, and Eliana let go of Neela for a moment. She leapt over the queue line that had been set up and rushing to the front, glancing back to make sure that Neela was with her. Neela smiled thoughtfully as her mind went back to the two of them as children.

" _Do you think that a Grimm could grow as tall as this wheel Neela?" Neela covered her mouth and gasped causing Eliana to laugh._

" _Of course not Elli, that's crazy!" Eliana glanced at Neela blushing._

" _Only my dad called me Elli." Neela's eyes grew wide._

" _I'm sorry!"_

" _No, it's okay." The little girl smiled at her best friend, giggling. "It makes me happy!"_

"Come on Neela!" Eliana called out again. Neela was still frozen in that moment.  _Only my dad called me Elli._  Neela truly was the first person that Eliana opened up to after her father had been killed. Neela glanced up at her, her surroundings sinking in. "No one else is on right now! The operator says we can ride it until we get bored!" Neela nodded and rushed to her friend, hurdling the ropes in a similar manner and leaping into the cage. "Good to go!"

"Don't enjoy yourselves too much," the man told them, winking at Neela. Neela blushed as he slammed the door shut and yanked on it several times to ensure that it was properly locked.

"Oh, we plan to!" Eliana exclaimed. The machinery sparked to life, the lights covering the legs of the ride flashing on and off as it slowly powered and the gears and belts cranked against each other in a mystical symphony. It was truly an amazing feeling that filled Neela with awe. For this moment with Eliana, they were not only entirely alone, but the world seemed so far away. They weren't huntresses that would one-day fight wars and bloody battles to ensure that humanity survived. No, for right now they were two kids, enjoying life and all its nuances. Eliana laughed as she pointed out at things around the city, trying to yell over the whirring of the wheel, but it was all in vain. Neela was hardly listening anyway. It was another moment that she just wanted to capture and keep forever.

The way that Eliana was laughing. The way her eyes lit up and dulled the stars around them as she looked out over the city awestruck by the beauty. The way the breeze tossed her hair the further they climbed into the air until the wheel came to a stop as they were at the very tip of the arc. The car rocked and Eliana laughed as she looked across the car at Neela. It was perfect.

"I knew he'd stop it here!" Eliana shouted out. "Thanks!" The man let out a whoop from the ground in acknowledgment and Eliana leaned back, looking up at the stars above them.

"More fun than when we were kids?" Neela asked. Eliana chuckled thoughtfully. Silence settled between the two of them and Eliana reached her hand up, as though she could have pulled some of the stars from the night sky and taken them as her own.

"Thank you Neela," Eliana spoke after a long moment. Neela cocked her head slightly, wondering how she had earned Eliana's gratitude.

"For what Elli?" Neela asked. Perhaps she had forgotten thanking her for being a great friend before.

"For tonight," Eliana explained. "I've been pushing myself so hard and I've had so much stress. I just needed to get away from it all, and I think this is exactly what I needed." Neela blushed and looked away. All of this was hardly any of her doing and if anything was all just stupid luck. Neela smiled softly in reply.

"Anytime Elli," Neela reassured her, glancing down at the ground below to see if anyone else was wanting a ride yet. That was when she spotted Titus and Ilia. "You've got to be kidding me…"

"Hm?" Eliana asked. "What did you say, I was daydreaming."

"Oh it's nothing," Neela replied. Eliana sighed and stretched.

"Do you think that a Grimm could grow as tall as this wheel?" Neela chuckled.

"After fighting that Geist, I'd believe anything," Neela answered. Eliana looked out at the ocean and stared intently for a long moment. Her mind had shifted gears again, and despite how much Neela loved the crazy side of Eliana, she loved the serious side just as much.

"Your moms are always talking about their year at Beacon and the crazy things that happened, and my dad always used to tell me stories about him and mom. Do you think that this is one of those moments?" Neela looked hard at her as Eliana met her eyes. "Like the first night at Beacon, on the cliff side… I don't want this to end Neela."

_I know! I don't want it to end either! I want this to be every day! I want this to be every moment! I love you, Elli!_

"Elli! -" The wheel cranked back to life and the sound drowned them out once again as they were slowly spun to the ground and let off. Neela glanced up, spotting Ilia and Titus now at the top of the ferris wheel. Neela shook her head and peered out at the crowd that was gathering in the area and she grabbed Eliana's hand. The girl looked down at the physical contact being made and glanced back up at Neela. "Let's go get something to eat!" It was Neela's turn to drag Eliana, which became actual dragging as Eliana couldn't stop laughing.

"What's gotten into you?" Eliana asked. "Usually I'm the frantic one!"

"Nothing!" Neela blurted out. "I just thought that maybe you'd be getting hungry!" Eliana looked around at the crowd gathering on the street. The fair must have just been opening for the night.

"I am, I am!" Eliana stopped for a moment and waved at someone behind them and Neela gritted her teeth, ready to turn and sucker punch Titus. "Hey, Mrs. Adel! How's it going?" Coco smirked and mouthed sorry to Neela who looked away. Everyone knew. Everyone but Eliana. It made it more difficult, knowing that Eliana was either just that oblivious or didn't feel the same. But it was the same fear that replayed in her head constantly and after a long minute, she pushed it out of her conscious.

"Things are going pretty good. I'm a touch on the jet-lagged side, but it's nothing that a little coffee can't fix," Coco told them. She looked down at her mug and inspected. "Or a lot of coffee… am I interrupting something?" Neela acknowledged Coco's attempt at avoiding being too direct and turned back to face them again.

"No, I think we were almost on our way back to the school anyways," Neela informed her. Coco nodded.

"Can I have a word with the two of you in private first?" She asked. Eliana glanced at Neela before nodding at Coco.

"Sure, why not?" Eliana replied for both of them. Coco motioned for them to follow, leading them out of the crowded street and into a side alley where Coco opened one of the building's backdoors. She ushered them in, glancing down the empty side street before closing the door behind them. It was a large empty room, save one large wooden crate with the SDC logo and light that flickered from its hanging fixture just above their heads. "This isn't what I thought you meant. Did we do something wrong?" Eliana gasped. "Are you even the real Coco?!" Neela rolled her eyes.

"Yes, now listen," Coco began. She placed a map on the crate and sprawled it out so that all three of them could view it. "This is the area where we are now. I'm sure you recognize the shopping center just a few streets over?" The girls nodded. "Good. Now, it's believed that these four are going to be either stealing or exchanging a shipment of Dust. I want you to go in and find out who they're working for, or at the very least, stop the exchange from happening. The warehouse is located close to the financial district." She pointed it out on the map and presented them with mugshots of the Stardust members.

"Neela!" Eliana exclaimed. "It's Orion!" Neela nodded.

"And that man that took our picture tonight," Neela added as they pushed the photos towards Coco and she studied them for a moment, removing her scroll.

"Did either of them engage you in combat?" Coco asked as she sent a message out to someone.

"Orion did," Eliana told Coco. "I'm a little fuzzy on the details seeing as it was a couple months ago. I think he had some strange light power."

"And he had a shield and gauntlet. He seemed to be using gravity Dust from what I remember," Neela added. Eliana nodded in agreement. Coco nodded in reply.

"That's the guy," she confirmed as she moved across the room and threw the door open. She peered out and whistled. "Hey!" She stepped back in before Titus and Ilia appeared in the doorway. Neela gritted her teeth.

"Hey! Neela! Eliana! I didn't know you two were still here in Vale! Titus and I came down here to grab some funnel cake!" Ilia attempted with a nervous chuckle. "Who doesn't love funnel cake, am I right?" Neela and Coco shook their heads in unison.

"What's going on?" Titus asked.

"Coco is sending us out on a mission," Neela informed him. Titus blinked in disbelief.

"I think I misheard you," Titus stated as he pushed Ilia into the room with a gentle shove and closed the door once again. "I've read the Beacon handbook more than any student who has ever attended the school. First Year students will only begin carrying out missions after the beginning of the second quarter, and only when accompanied by a Field Instructor. The mission must also be approved by the school, etcetera, etcetera, and may not include Non-Grimm targets. At least in mission briefing, anything that happens beyond that is covered under…"

"Titus," Coco said dryly.

"Hm?"

"Shut up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems that our hero's date was cut short, but at least she enjoyed it while it lasted. Next week, can NITE take on the Stardust Gang? Chapter 28 - Fight NITE!
> 
>   
> Artwork by Ookaminoki
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	32. Fight NITE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team NITE faces off against the Stardust Gang, but will they succeed in bringing them down?

Jaune sat in the living room of the teacher apartment that they had been assigned to and flipped through the paper, reading briefly through the business section to see if there was any mention of the SDC. He was hoping to see that the mining was underway in Menagerie and that it was going well, but it didn't appear as though there was an article covering it this week and he continued on his way to the comics. He glanced over the top of his paper at his wife, the redhead smiling as she was deep in thought about something and folding laundry. It was hard to believe that she was here with him now after all that had happened. Ruby had watched her die as she reached the top of the tower in Beacon. Jaune was helpless as her aura drained before his eyes on his scroll. Yet, here she was.

After Cinder had watched her fight, the intention to kill her was out of the question. No, Pyrrha was too strong for such a fate and using her newly developed powers, Cinder had transported her to Salem's realm to be used later as a vessel. The plan was to put all of the maiden's powers into Pyrrha and give control of her body to Salem, but Team RWBY had arrived and killed Salem long before that became possible. Here she was. Saved from the destiny that the enemy had planned for her, and back on track with the one that she knew, deep down, that she always wanted.

"Jaune," Pyrrha said in a scolding tone and he looked up from the newspaper again to see that she was holding his Pumpkin Pete's hoodie.

"What?" He asked.

"Don't you think it's about time that we throw this out?" She asked. He leapt up and threw his paper down, moving to sit beside her on their couch and grabbing the garment from her.

"Are you crazy? I've had this thing as long as I can remember, and I've sewn it back up several times!" Jaune declared as he looked it over. "Plus I thought that maybe Blaine could wear it when he gets a little bit older." Pyrrha laughed. "What?"

"I don't think that he'll want to wear that Jaune," Pyrrha tried telling him but Jaune turned back towards the hallway.

"Blaine!" He called out. The young boy with blonde hair and green eyes came running into the room and smiled from the archway.

"Hello!" He called out like his mother. Jaune smiled and looked at him, holding the hoodie up.

"You want to wear this when you get a little bit bigger? I wore it when I was a kid!" Jaune exclaimed, convinced that the child would agree. Blaine looked at it for a long moment.

"Maybe," he replied unsurely. He ran back down the hall towards his room. Jaune looked at Pyrrha who covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. He balled it up and handed it back to her as he returned to his chair.

"I'm sorry!" She blurted out. Jaune settled in again and as he was getting comfortable his scroll went off. He removed it and looked it over. "What is it?"

"Coco says that she needs me for support on a mission," he told her. He stood and moved behind the couch, stopping to kiss her as he walked to the door and retrieved his sword and shield. "Don't wait up for me."

"Be careful," she replied. He nodded.

* * *

The moon leapt and scattered across the small waves that swept into the bay, giving off the sort of vibe that one might get from a romantic scene in a movie where the man and woman kiss by the waterside, professing their love to each other as loudly as possible to nobody. Orion shook his head, he didn't get the appeal, but that's what the bay looked like. Every step that he took as he paced back and forth across the old wooden platform caused the planks to creak beneath him and he pondered when they last maintained this part of the shipyard. As long as he had been with Mercury's crew he couldn't recall any ships ever coming in or leaving from this dock, and he figured it probably had to do with the inconvenience of the location. Sure, the boardwalk had been set up in such a manner that a ship could be docked there, but unless they planned on dropping their goods off in the warehouse immediately adjacent, getting anything out and into the city was a pain in the ass.

He glanced across the pier at the opposing boardwalk, pausing for a long moment for his contact to arrive before he got tired of waiting and activated the communication link in his ear that Mercury had equipped all of them with. No sense in keeping the radio silent if no one was listening anyway.

"Sirius, he's not here yet, but you're not here yet either. Usually, you're the punctual one, what the hell is taking you so long?" Orion demanded as he peered at one of the ships that were docked behind him and considered climbing on for a moment. "The cops are about to make round number two, we tested this the last couple of days, the twins can only keep the officers occupied for an average of five minutes even during a good run. Unless they opted for the alternative, but those two really don't strike me as the type. I can see it now. 'Sister is he suggesting we sleep with him?' 'Sister, he needs to be castrated.' 'Yes sister, castrated.'" Orion shuddered at the thought.

"If our supplier isn't present, then I guess it doesn't make a difference if I've arrived yet or not. We'll be screwed either way," Sirius replied. "I was stopped by a couple that wanted me to take a picture of them. Cute girls, but a tad too young for my taste." Orion found amusement in the statement.

"I didn't know you actually found interest in women. Not to say that you're gay, I just thought you were more of the loner type." Orion cleared his throat after an awkward pause. "Tell me they at least gave you a few Lien."

"I physically bumped into them, it was the least I could do," Sirius explained. Orion shook his head and headed for the cargo ship behind him. "And you're right for the most part. I'm much more of a loner now. Was married once. Beautiful woman, but it didn't work out."

"I feel like you and I grow closer every day," Orion smirked. "But seriously, you didn't even have them pay you, try to pickpocket them, anything?! You're not the best thief, are you?"

"It's called maintaining cover, but you're not exactly the best at  _that_ , are you?" Sirius offered as a rebuttal. Orion chuckled and started investigating the vessel.

"Touché," Orion replied. The ship seemed standard, though Orion was quite surprised to find that there wasn't any security, just a few crates that read Rose Petals on them in a harsh red lettering. Blood stained the deck, and judging by the mold that was forming on the corners of the wooden containers, he assumed that the boat had been abandoned for quite some time, perhaps a few months or so? A broken shipping container laid on the far end of the ship smashed completely apart. It gave him a chill for a moment before a blinding light was shone into his eyes.

"Care to tell me what you're doing up there? I'll let you go with a warning if you put your hands above your head and exit the rig peacefully," The person stated. Orion grunted and ran down the docking platform.

"Sirius, you have got to work on throwing your voice better if that is ever going to get me," Orion informed him. Sirius stopped briefly and looked around, as though he had heard something, sniffing the air as he headed for the opposing pier where the seller should have been waiting. It snaked around an old wharf, twisting out of sight. Sirius gave it his full attention, trying to spot what he had heard before, moving forward more quickly. If he reached them in time, assuming they were cops, he could get the jump on them and take them out silently. He ruled out huntsmen and huntresses, the location they had decided on was different than the one they had spread around town. He quickly moved around the corner and gripped the bone hilt on his hip before releasing it and smirking.

"False alarm," he reported over his earpiece. "Just a couple of kids making out." He retreated towards where he'd come from and Titus shoved Ilia off of him. He gasped for a moment, stumbling back from her.

"That was the only thing you could think to do?!" He seethed. "And how long were you planning on holding it, I was running out of air!"

"Quiet!" She reminded him. "Didn't they teach you how to blend in at Atlas?" She asked him. He shook his head.

"Why do you  _always_  have to drag my old school into this? Of course they did, but our methods are far more humane!" She put her finger to his lips.

"It was just a kiss so that we'd blend in. A person's first reaction when they see people kissing is to look away," she explained.

"I told you before I think of you as a sister though," he reminded her. "Also, why's that?"

"Beats me," she told him. She tried to peer past the corner without being spotted, but it was proving difficult. "Guys, I don't have visual on the other three yet."

"Two," came Neela's voice over the radio. "I see Orion." Neela grappled across from the roof to the ransacked boat that Orion had snooped around earlier. She perched on a stack of crates and activated her semblance. "Whatever we do, make sure that we don't move it until we identify and immobilize the seller."

"Right," Eliana replied, posted above the only alleyway that led into this stretch of the shipyard. They had all entrances and exits covered. All that they had to do now was wait for Neela's word. After nearly five minutes, Neela began to wonder if the contact had discovered them and they were now at a stalemate until NITE left, or they forced Stardust to leave. She hesitated for a moment. How could she set things in motion?

"Ilia, I have an idea, but Titus isn't going to like it," Neela informed them.

"He's fine," Ilia replied for him.

"Do I ever?" He asked.

"Good, I'm glad we're all in agreement," Neela exclaimed. "Elli, just stay put for now."

"Can do!" She exclaimed.

"Ilia, I want you to ride Titus and Titus, I want you to stumble out around the corner like you're drunk," Neela told him.

"How is this going to help us?" Titus asked.

"Don't know how to act drunk?" Neela asked. Titus shook his head.

"What? No, it's a legitimate question," He replied. Ilia chuckled as she gently placed her hand on his neck.

"I'm guessing he doesn't know how," Ilia replied. Titus threw his hands up in protest.

"It is a legitimate…" Titus began.

"Quiet, I have a visual on what might be the third party!" Eliana hushed them. She sprinted across the roof she was on and came to a stop close to the ledge, kneeling and keeping an eye on the new person of interest. "Neela, you'll see her if you use your semblance! She's coming in from between the buildings!" They were wearing a crude metal mask with brown eyes that could barely be made out through the viewing holes. A black hood made it hard to make out their hair, but obviously a woman from her shape. She stopped at the middle of the boardwalk and Astra and Asteria joined her a moment later, coming from the same direction. There was a long moment of silence as the rest of the Stardust Gang came together. The woman gave them a simple smile and met all of their eyes.

"Which one of you is Sirius," she asked. "I was informed by Mercury Black that I am only to allow Sirius to handle the goods." Orion moved to step forward in protest, but Sirius held out an arm, preventing him from pushing forward and objecting. He gave Orion a stern look and Orion backed off, choosing obedience for the moment, knowing that if he made any more mistakes or had another slip-up, Mercury would not let the rest of his team to bail him out, and would sever all ties with him.

"I am Sirius Canis. I have been sent as Mercury's representative in his stead, he was occupied this evening with a prior arrangement. I will graciously accept the equipment on his behalf," Sirius informed her. "This is Mistral tech, correct?" The woman didn't feign a response. "If that's the case may I inquire as to how you came into possession of an item that causes so much… chaos?" Still no visual response, but she gave a single chuckle in amusement.

"You seem like an elegant man or at least one who has talked his way out of many situations," she told him. "I don't care about what your employer is doing, and it is of no concern to you how I obtained the package. The only thing that matters is that both of the men that hired us get what they want. You will pay for the case and I shall hand it over to you and from there, it is out of both of our hands." She looked back down the alley. "If you must know, there is quite the Black Market that has developed on the outskirts of Haven. You can purchase just about anything that you can possibly imagine in some of those smaller villages. Sterling Stratford has gone about restoring the entire kingdom since he had taken over, but despite how large he thinks his army is, he'll never have enough resources to completely crush our kind."

"I was simply making small talk," Sirius explained. She finally smirked.

"And I am simply making a business transaction," she replied. "Now if you don't mind presenting the lien that I was promised, I'll be more than glad to hand over the weapon."

"Should we move in?" Titus asked. "They're about to make the handoff," Titus told her. He and Ilia had doubled back into the ship-house, slowly making their way to the closest dock doors so that they could eavesdrop.

"No, they aren't, neither side has their 'bargaining chip', so to speak," Neela told them, knowing better visually what was going on than the rest of them. "What's their mindset here, Mrs. Adel?"

"You can just call me Coco, Neela, but I'll let you figure that out on your own. I'm here as a fail safe. Worst case scenario if you will," she answered, clearly tapping away at a keyboard. Neela grappled across to Eliana's rooftop and moved in next to her, training her arrow on the masked woman. What was happening? This was supposed to be a Dust handoff, wasn't it? Sirius removed his scroll and selected several things, showing it to the woman.

"It's been transferred. That's what he just told her," Titus replied to them. Neela watched as the woman handed a small electronic device over to Sirius, showing him for a moment how to operate it before allowing him to fully take it from her.

"It's not Dust! They've made the handoff! Titus, do your thing!" Neela exclaimed. She grabbed Eliana and grappled down to the ground, training her bow on the masked figure but staying hidden in the shadows of the poorly lit alleyway.

"Now now children," Sirius spoke giving a smirk. The others looked at him confused for a moment before he reached down and removed his bone hilt, forming it into a sword. "Let's not be too hasty. You don't really think that you can sneak up on a man with clairvoyance, do you?" The woman watched Neela for a long moment before taking off down the pier where it was unguarded.

"Should we chase after her?" Eliana asked. Before Neela could inform Titus to stay back the door had been thrown open and Orion turned, blasting his light energy into the steam, hoping to hit anyone that might be on the other side. Eliana waited back with Neela for a long moment before Ilia leapt out of the cover and into the air. They all watched her for a long moment, the twins getting their blades up just in time to deflect Ilia's. Titus stepped out slowly, swinging his kopides and creating two waves of concentrated gravity Dust, throwing the girls back.

"Hand over the device and nobody has to get hurt here," Titus told them. Astra and Asteria found their feet again and posed in battle ready stances on both sides of Orion and Sirius. Orion reached back slowly for his shield, only to have it shot into the water before he could attach it to his arm. He glanced over and watched as Neela and Eliana moved into the light.

"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise!" He exclaimed. He pointed across Sirius' body. "Look! It's the two girls that tried to stop me that night! That's Neela Xiao Long." Sirius cast a side glance at her.

"So much fuss for such a young girl," Sirius stated. "They all assume that you're going to be great just because of your name, but your accomplishments speak for themselves. Be careful that you do not progress too quickly Ms. Xiao Long, the target on your back is already quite large enough and that's only based on potential at this point. You are no more impressive than Pyrrha Nikos was at this age, yet everyone viewed her in the same light. And she would end up succumbing to Cinder during the fall." Neela stood there for a long moment, looking at the man. Why would he give her advice, she intended on taking him in. Maybe he was trying to get in her head.

"Thanks for the history lesson, but are we going to fight?" Eliana asked. Before Eliana could react Sirius had already hit the ground and moved with an uncanny speed at her, Neela stepping in the way moments before he arrived and clashing her blade against his. Eliana turned quickly, firing ice rounds at one of Orion's light orbs and coating it, watching as it exploded harmlessly into shards.

"Impossible!" He shouted. Neela still struggled against Sirius, his smiled widening.

"Well as much fun as this has been, I need to return this item to Mercury. It has been an honor, and I hope to fight you again soon," he told her. "The others will keep you from leaving." Sirius pushed her back and she slid away, quickly flipping her sword back into a bow and reaching back in one motion but it wasn't going to be fast enough. Before he could move his feet had been turned to stone. He glanced down before glancing back at Eliana who smirked. Orion tore past Sirius and attacked Eliana who ducked under a few of his attacks, deflecting a blast of gravity with a forcefield. Neela fired at him but he blasted the arrow away with his gauntlet and then used it to free Sirius. Neela grappled the Faunus with her hook and pulled him in.

"What is the device and who sold it to you?" Neela asked. He chuckled.

"You remind me of my former wife, and I never cared much for her questions either," he replied. His sword became a whip and snaked around her, binding her arms to her sides. "You are only a child. Don't overestimate your abilities." He yanked hard, the bone tearing across her skin and leaving lacerations that her aura was able to heal, but causing her enough pain that he was left an opening. "Goodbye." Sirius was thrown against the wall of the warehouse and he dented into the tin siding. Grunting and noting Orion as the attacker.

Neela sauntered over to Sirius with Eliana beside her and Orion taking up the rear. He glanced up for the twins, but they were nowhere to be found. He looked his teammate over once more before grinning despite being surrounded.

"Who was the seller?" Neela asked again.

"You think that trick is pretty clever, don't you?" He asked addressing Ilia. "Though I will admit that it took me by surprise at first."

 _Little help?_  Titus requested over the comm. Neela looked back at Eliana and nodded, the girl took off running for the loading bay.

"It might be clever, but now it's two on one," Orion spoke. Sirius formed his sword again, arching his back and letting it crack before assessing the situation. Orion grunted it pain and stumbled back, moving back and forth across the dock as though he were drunk and struggling against someone helping him to walk.

"Not much of a limit I guess, but I do applaud your approach," Sirius told her. He struck out and she deflected, exchanging a few blows with him before giving him enough of an opening to transform his weapon into a two-handed blade.

"What can't that thing do?" She asked.

"It can't be a gun," he replied. He swung the sword over his head and her mind flashed back to her fight against Jaune. She needed to foresee what would come next and she knew that Sirius had to be stronger than she was. Blocking wasn't a good option, she'd have to try and redirect his blade. She moved into position, watching as all of his momentum was set into the swing and in a risky move, she sidestepped and fired at his feet, hooking his leg and pulling his feet out from under him. His sword transformed into dual daggers and he hit the ground of his chest, quickly planting the two blades and pulling himself up, launching towards Neela. She swung, knocking him back as she grappled up to the roof behind her, flipping the weapon back to a bow and watching from above as he smirked. Ilia flew past Sirius and slammed into the wall where he had been before.

"What should we do with her?" Orion asked. Sirius watched Neela and Orion met the location of his gaze.

"I'm more worried about her at the moment," Sirius told him. Orion nodded and grabbed Sirius arm, throwing an orb of light into the air and teleporting to it in a stream of energy, landing on the roof behind her. "At first I planned on simply leaving and letting you and your friends live, but now I want to teach you another lesson. I want you to see that the world is unforgiving because dealing with someone as experienced as me is unwise and you will get hurt."

"I was raised in the White Fang for most of my childhood, I know how cruel this world can be," she told him shuddering. She pushed the images of her birth parents dying out of her mind. "I just choose to remain optimistic."

"And for that, you are a fool," Sirius told her. There was a crash below and Orion watched as Titus slid off of the dock and into the water beside his shield, crashing in with a loud splash and watching the twins exit the building. The color left his face for a moment and he turned back to Neela.

"Maybe these students are putting up more of a fight than you think," Orion pointed out. Neela removed a tip from her pouch and drew her bow back as Sirius shifted his attention for a moment. The Geminis had formed into one person, they had used their Makhai semblance and were now joined at the hip, possessing two torsos that were back to back. "I haven't seen the girls use that power since the day I found them."

"Titus, you ready?" Eliana called out. Titus snatched the shield out of the water and climbed onto a forcefield platform that Eliana had created, holding the shield out and letting her bullets ricochet off and riddle Astra. The twins stumbled away from Titus, which he assisted by swiping the sword in his free hand, a wave of gravity crashing into them. Eliana grabbed Asteria by the right arm, pinning her left upward with a forcefield as Titus had returned to the dock, and she fired an entire magazine into the twin's chest, significantly diminishing their collective aura.

"Sirius," Orion told him as the Faunus had turned his attention back to Neela a while ago. The girl smirked.

"I'm sorry, what was that about getting hurt?" She asked. Sirius gritted his teeth and moved in to strike with sword and she fired the arrow, a flashbang that blinded both her and Sirius. He stumbled back, yelling obscenities at her as she activated her semblance. She could easily strike quickly and take the object, but she Orion grabbed her arm swiftly and held tight.

"I became an orb just fast enough that your arrow didn't affect me," he explained. He pulled Sirius' weapon away and gripped harder at Neela's arm, causing her to cry out in pain.

"Hold on Neela, we're coming in!" Coco exclaimed. Neela grunted and seethed through her teeth. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so much pain. Orion's gauntlet activated and the shockwave was concentrated, something snapped in her arm and her body fell limp from it, she was unable to pull away. He had fractured it. Orion flashed her an evil grin as she fell onto her knees and dropped the contents of her pouch onto the ground by accident. She shook as she gripped her bow, using what strength she had left to flip it into a sword and smashing it against the pile of specialized tips, closing her eyes. Several of the flashbangs exploded, causing Orion to stumble away as he swung the sword, tearing through the back of her outfit and slicing through her back. Unfortunately, the combination of the resulting focused explosion and repairing of her fracture caused her aura to teeter on the edge of breakage, leaving her nearly defenseless.

"Help!" She cried out. She used her semblance, straining against the pain, slight blindness, and deafness to move while using it, something that she had only done once before with undesired results. She picked up on of the new arrow tips she had been working on and mustered the rest of her strength, lunging and jamming it into the segments of Orion's gauntlet. It activated, the magnetized tip ripping apart his glove and scattering it about the roof. He looked down in shock and glanced back at the rest of NITE on the ground below.

"Eliana! Ilia!" Titus yelled, standing close to the wall of the warehouse. He held Orion's shield flat above his head, Eliana leaping onto a forcefield closer to the ground and vaulting onto the platform. Titus launched her, Ilia leaping out of Eliana's body as they reached the peak of the throw, grabbing Eliana's hand and throwing her up to the ledge. Ilia followed after her a moment later as Eliana scrambled up and opened fire on Orion who blocked what he could with Sirius' sword and grabbed his partner.

"This isn't the last you'll see of us, Xiao Long!" Orion yelled. "Girls, let's go!" He dragged Sirius across the roof to one of the ladder escapes on the far end, the twins audibly diving into the water as someone with a gatling gun could be heard opening fire below. Titus slammed his kopis into the ground, a stone pillar throwing him into the air, allowing Ilia to pull him onto the roof by gripping the shield. Neela laid dazed on the ground as Eliana ran to her.

"Neela!" Eliana shouted. Neela tried to smile, but she passed out long before she had a chance. As the comfort of darkness and void filled her mind, she could still hear bits of the conversation.

"Up here, Mrs. Adel!" Titus was calling. Feet shuffled around her as she began to lose consciousness. "Should we pursue them?"

"No," Coco replied. Neela felt her body lifted slightly. "Shit… Jaune!" Coco yelled. It was the last thing that Neela remembered.

* * *

 _Is she going to be okay?_  Neela's mind drifted through the darkness for quite a while, wondering if she was going to wake up anytime soon. She couldn't remember the last time that she had hurt that bad physically, with the exception of the training that children were subjected to in the White Fang, but she hated thinking back that far and pushed the memories from her mind. Was it always this hard? Had she always been set up for defeat… for failure? She received praise from everyone, they told her that she had potential beyond that of any other student. But she had lost her first battle.

That loser wasn't even the end game. His boss wasn't even the end game. He had injured her and her pride. She knew that she wouldn't win every time, but why did it hurt so bad? She had lost to the teachers before, so why did she think that she was so untouchable? They hadn't even managed to steal the device or stop the exchange. Had she waited too long to start the attack? She was a failure. Titus should have been picked to lead them. With his military expertise, he could have easily executed the objective. It should have been him.

How could she have escaped? Should she have grappled Sirius and pulled him into the way of the attack? Would she have had enough time? She knew that Orion had the ability to form into light, perhaps she should have destroyed his gauntlet first. It didn't matter now, did it? The pain in her body flared again, a soreness filling her joints as she felt her body rushing back towards consciousness and she struggled to open her eyes. Light poured in and Neela recognized the light fixture above the bed. The infirmary. She had only been here a few weeks ago when Eliana had overdone it in her match against Neo.

Neela strained and grunted as she tried to sit, noting the sound of someone shifting next to her, the cringe-worthy audio of a chair being dragged across the floor. Neela's eyes were still adjusting, undoubtedly due to the after-effects of the flashbang and passing out after the fight. She glanced over and felt someone throw themselves onto her, their arms wrapped tight around her, meaning that it could only be one of three people.

"Neela, don't scare me like that!" Eliana cried out. Neela chuckled and groaned, causing Eliana to startle and let go of her quickly.

"Aren't you overreacting just a little bit?" Neela asked. Eliana folded her arm across her chest and sat back down in the chair.

"No," Eliana replied. "What happened up there anyway?" Neela reached up and rubbed her eyes, the movement causing her to realize just how sore she actually was.

"I got in a tight spot and then Orion used his gravity weapon to fracture my arm. If I hadn't fended him off, I might have ended up even worse off," Neela explained. Eliana nodded and scooted even closer to the bedside.

"I'm just glad you're alright," Eliana told her. She looked at Neela and waited as her friend's eyes adjusted. She peered around the room before she met Eliana's gaze.

"What is it, Elli?" Neela asked. Eliana blushed slightly and looked away.

"There's something that I've been thinking about lately and wanted to bring up, but couldn't until last night. I feel like this would be the most appropriate time," Eliana explained. Neela's full attention turned to her friend and she hung on to what came next in anticipation

"What is it, Elli? You can tell me anything," Neela reassured her. Eliana looked up at her sheepishly.

"I don't know quite how to put this," Eliana explained. Eliana had piqued Neela's interest. What was it that Elli wanted to tell her? It wasn't… Was Elli going to confess that she felt the same?!

"Put what Elli? We'll still be friends no matter what," Neela reassured her. Eliana chuckled.

"It's nothing that severe," Eliana informed her.  _Okay, but what Elli?! Just spit it out!_ Eliana took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Mine are still slightly bigger," Eliana blurred out. Neela blinked hard.

"What?" Neela asked plainly.

"They had to undress you last night and get you into the gown. I was here with you and I noticed that my boobs are still slightly bigger than yours. When we were younger we used to compare our busts when they began growing. Mine are still bigger, not by much, but they are," Eliana told her. Neela blushed and looked away. Eliana had seen her naked last night? The girl clearly didn't know about Neela's feelings, she'd ask what was wrong with seeing her naked, they used to see each other naked all the time when they were younger. Things were different now, but not in Eliana's head.

"Lucky," Neela said playfully. Eliana smirked. "You could have gone back to the dorm."

"I wouldn't have been able to get a hold of you this morning," Eliana told her.

"Why not?" Neela asked. Eliana glanced out the window at students wandering across the campus.

"Coco took my scroll last night. Something about not wanting me to message your mom," Eliana informed her. Neela nestled back down in her bed, probably a wise decision on Coco's part. Neela sighed as she closed her eyes for a long moment. What was she going to tell Blake and Yang? She laughed to herself. Blake would be worried and Yang would be proud, that's how it always went.

"So, Xiao Long was I out for?" Neela asked looking at Eliana. Eliana's face twisted into an evil smile and she snorted, clasping her mouth shut. "What?" Neela sat up again. "What is it?"

"You made a pun," Eliana managed, her eyes tearing up.

"No, I didn't…"

"You totally did!" Eliana blurted out. Neela shook her head.

"No!" She exclaimed. Eliana leapt out of her seat and climbed onto the bed.

"You said Xiao Long, and it was adorable!" She startled Neela who was struck with a momentary paralysis due to shock before being pulled out by Eliana who began tickling her. The two girls giggled as Neela protested against the attack.

"Stop! Elli!" Neela laughed. Eliana pinned her down harder.

"Not until you concede!" Eliana blurted out. The door swung open and they both froze, glancing over at Ren. He blushed slightly.

"Uhhhh…" The sound stumbled clumsily out of his mouth.

"'This isn't what it looks like!" Neela shouted out blushing hard. Eliana gave her a knowing smile.

"Yeah, we're not having a tickle fight, we were actually making out," Eliana told him looking back down at Neela. She wrapped her arm under Neela's neck and pursed her lips. Neela heart crashed against her rib cage and she trembled. What?! Was this another one of her dreams!? Holy shit! Eliana was still coming closer!

Neela closed her eyes, partially resisting but preparing her own lips for the kiss. She could hear the door close and feel Eliana's hot breath in her ear now, lightly tugging with her teeth. Neela squirmed. It felt real, but she wasn't ready! It wasn't supposed to happen like this, was it? The sensation caused her to let out a sharp moan, her body buckling without her permission.

"Elli," Neela breathed. Eliana leapt off and Neela felt her pulse stop instantly. What was happening? She still wasn't following.

"I think we got rid of him," Eliana told her best friend. Neela trembled as she tried to pull her body up into a sitting position. She blinked hard. All of that was just to get rid of Ren. "It was pretty convincing!" Eliana smiled at her. "You even more so! If I didn't know better, I'd say that you actually enjoyed it! You really drove home the sexual tension!" Neela became pale and flopped back, covering her head with one of the pillows beside her. All that Neela wanted to do now was either scream into the pillow or tell Eliana that she hadn't been acting.

"You can't just do that Elli!" Neela scolded. She tossed the pillow at Eliana who laughed batting it away and stepped to the door.

"I'll let Ren in to discharge you," Eliana told her. Neela nodded.

"Thank you," Neela said.

Initiation. School. Training. Irreplaceable moments. The waterfall. The Ferris wheel. Fighting the Stardust Gang. The dance in a few days. The 1st Quarter at Beacon was about to end, yet Neela was no closer to telling Eliana how she felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neela and NITE received their first lesson in losing as the Stardust Gang left their leader roughed up. Next Week, can a bunny hope to beat a scorpion? Chapter 29: Olesia Vs. Tyrian!
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	33. Olesia Vs. Tyrian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once Tyrian meets up with Strakh he is told to stay put, but there's nothing he won't do to prove his love for Salem...

Tyrian may have had a bag placed over his head, but there were still several things that he could tell about what was going on around him. For one, he knew for sure that they were taking him underground because the air had gone from arid and dry to cool and damp after an extended amount of time. The other was the fact that he was getting closer to Strakh, his nose picking up on the smell of Dust, which he was quite familiar with. He wasn't sure he understood why they wanted to hide it from him, this was a long-term business venture and he was determined to assist Strakh in any way possible to achieve his goal.

"Boys, I don't think it's necessary to go to all this trouble for me. Your boss is the one who asked me to come out here and help move the Temnota name to an entirely new level! If anything you all should be thanking me!" He told them before his tune changed from his usual joking manner to crazed and homicidal, thrashing against the grip of the two men. "Not placing a sack over my head! Let go of me you jack-"

"Let him go," a voice said. Tyrian recognized the voice from the many phone calls that they had exchanged, and he felt relief as they removed the bag quickly. He stumbled to his knees and his tail whipped back, slapping the two men away.

"These brutes are awful Strakh! I recommend getting some new help in here that knows what they're doing!" Tyrian told him. Tyrian took in the sight around him. He was right, they were in some kind of poorly lit cavern or structure that was underground, made entirely of sandstone, which made sense seeing as it would have been the cheapest building material he could have gotten his hands on. A desk sat in the middle of the large room, probably made of mahogany, the rest of the room bustling with commotion and noise. Crates of Dust were stacked everywhere. It was as if he had chosen to set up in the middle of the production floor or busy warehouse. "An interesting location choice for your point of operations conduction, don't you think?" Strakh looked up and peered over his glasses.

The man looked different than Tyrian expected, plainer. His dark orange eyes didn't strike fear as Tyrian would have assumed. The goatee almost made the man look too old. A scar running from the corner of his lip down the chin, hair wouldn't grow there ever again. Another smaller scar across the bridge of his nose. His short black hair was spiked and his suit was a tailored black jacket with matching slacks. His dark blue tie completed the look. He set the glasses down gently, but they rattled slightly off of the table as he let them go, his hands unsteady.

"Fear, as I'm sure you're well aware of, is a great tool for motivation," Strakh said as he stood. He did have height over Tyrian and muscle, but his legs trembled just enough that it was visible. "It's not necessarily the fact that I can kill them myself, but that at any given moment, I can give the command." Strakh grinned and his face became dark. "But I am still quite capable of doing it myself." Tyrian nodded and groveled slightly.

"Of course! Of course, you are! I wasn't suggesting that you weren't, I never thought that once!" Tyrian defended himself. Strakh grabbed his cane and shuffled across the floor, moving to the back of the large room, Tyrian following after a moment.

"Why are you here so early Tyrian. I told you when I contacted you last that we wouldn't be setting your part of the plan into motion until the spring. It isn't even winter yet," Strakh reminded him. Tyrian nodded and squirmed, his body practically pleading for his new leader to remain patient with him.

"I know Strakh, I know! I couldn't stand the idea of waiting to help you when I could be making a difference now and I had a desire to discuss details and happenings now, I hope you understand…" Strakh reached quickly into his jacket and spun back towards Tyrian, firing a shot off that tore the arm of his jacket without drawing any blood. It was an abnormal revolver, that used normal rounds and didn't double as any other weapon. Tyrian looked at him in confusion.

"It would be in your best interest that you do not forget that I am in charge," Strakh reminded him. He hobbled on, Tyrian walking behind him on twos now, slowly and cautiously.

"I can leave if you'd like," Tyrian offered.

"And create even more work for ourselves?" Strakh asked. He lifted the cane and shoved it into a small hole in the cavern wall, giving it a turn. The wall shifted and he pulled his prop back out, the wall sliding slowly into the ground and revealing a large room filled with large metal crates that were marked with amounts on the outside. They were filled with Lien. "Come… follow me to paradise."

"But of course," Tyrian complied. The far end of the room contained an unnecessarily expensive wet bar and jacuzzi, girls that were dressed in expensive lingerie met them halfway but looked less than happy.

"Welcome home master," one of them told him. "Shall we tend to the needs of you or your guest?" Strakh's face turned into a perverted smile and it was then that Tyrian noted the girls' shackles. He pulled her in.

"Not now Aurelia, but perhaps later this evening, hmm?" He asked. She struggled against his grip, whimpering slightly. His eyes undressed her for a long moment and he let her go. She nodded at him, blushing in shame and he slapped her on the ass as she walked away.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Strakh asked as he stepped behind the counter and poured himself a drink. Tyrian shook his head.

"I'd rather get along with business if possible," Tyrian told him. Strakh took a sip of his White Russian and shrugged.

"Suit yourself," Strakh scoffed. "What is it that you'd like to know?" Tyrian sat awkwardly on the stool across from Temnota, perched on the top like a gargoyle.

"I want to be brought up to speed," Tyrian explained. "For one, how have you stayed in contact with Her? If what I've been hearing is true, the bridge to the Queen's realm in Mistral has been blocked off, or destroyed, or something to that effect." Strakh dabbed his lip with a napkin.

"It's true," Temnota confirmed. "But we found a new gate was opened. It sits on top of the middle of the ocean, far west of here. I only go visit when I am instructed to." Tyrian lifted an eyebrow and rubbed his hands together.

"What do you mean by that?" The scorpion asked.

"Our informant in Mistral is the one running the operation. I was never in charge of this, but we've been using my name at the top of everything so that things will continue on if I meet my end before we see this plan through to the end," Strakh told him. "I am the Queen's pawn in the West. Admon in the North. Mercury in the 'South'."

"What of the East?" Tyrian inquired. Strakh looked deep into his glass at the ice and stifled a laugh.

"Who knows?" Strakh set the glass in the sink and returned to the bar. "They've chosen to remain anonymous due to continuous and growing pressure from Sterling. That man has made it impossible to make any progress in Mistral." Strakh slammed his fist. "The council needs to be torn down before any of this can progress further."

"What's the wait?" Tyrian asked, his eyes filled with delighted malice intent. "Why don't we attack Olesia now? Why are we waiting?" Strakh shook his head and laughed as he stood and moved towards a door at the back of the room. One of the women bowed slightly, opening the door and letting them in.

"The council members are the strongest Huntsmen and Huntresses that Remnant has. They aren't to be trifled with. Ruby Rose is at their head." Tyrian gritted his teeth. "And we know how powerful Rose is."

"I don't need a reminder!" Tyrian snapped. "She's the reason that we're in this mess!" The room had a bed and a nightstand.

"This is where you'll be staying," Strakh told him. "Make yourself comfortable and if you need anything, the ladies will be glad to help." He turned to leave and he gave off an evil aura as he glanced back. "And I do mean anything." He moved to close the door but Tyrian stopped him.

"What about the girl?" Tyrian asked. This time it was Strakh's turn to grit his teeth.

"She knows better than to say anything." Temnota left with a slamming of the door and Tyrian rubbed his hands together. He had taken on the Rose once, surely this Olesia couldn't be as powerful as Strakh assumed. It would also give him an opportunity to try out his gift from Temnota's company.

* * *

Olesia sat in her bed for a long moment, reaching back and feeling her soft tail, nothing but her underwear and bra covering her. She took a deep breath and sighed. Another day, another chance to tackle the issues that had been placed before her. They had begun trying to pinpoint Strakh and his base of operations, but Shade was a large city and offered many places to hide. They had gotten off to a slow start and hadn't had any luck up to that point. She stared out her bedroom window that faced one of the only large oasis located in the kingdom of Vacuo.

She was alone, but it was mostly her own choice. Emotions and romantic feelings would only get in the way of protecting the kingdom and for her, the kingdom came first before anything else. It had offered her refuge long ago when she and Dorian had first met and ran away. Her family had been killed by Grimm and Dorian had always had faith in her and her strength, even if she didn't believe in herself all the time. Both victims of the Nuckelavee, they had run and kept running until they reached Atlas. The academy had taken them in, but it was a time when Faunus were still frowned upon, the White Fang was at the peak of their terrorist acts. The General had asked them to stay, but they fled again, finally finding safety in Shade.

They had never been romantic, Dorian had always placed Olesia on a pedestal and admired her from below, making sure that it didn't fall out from beneath her. She owed a lot to the kingdom, but maybe she owed more to Dorian. She stretched and smirked. Perhaps there was no one else there to tell her that she was beautiful, but she admired her own body, and that was enough for her. She rubbed her wrists. Still a touch sore. They had been bothering her for the last week or so, but there was little she could do about it until the next council meeting.

She moved to her bathroom, the door sliding open without her so much as acknowledging it and the shower starting itself as she removed her undergarments. Everything in the house was controlled electronically, synchronizing perfectly with her technopathic abilities. It made things a breeze. She looked at herself naked in the mirror. She knew in the back of her mind she was kidding herself. She wanted to know the touch of a man so badly… but she had disciplined herself so well. Maybe someday…

She stepped into the shower, the water the perfect temperature as her mind adjusted it for her. She took a deep breath, the water felt good and she reached back, shampooing her tail before moving to her hair. She startled for a moment as the PA in her house alarmed. It was usually so silent, and the sudden ringing had frightened her, though it was no more than a message. She chuckled. She was justified though, wasn't she? She was naked. She couldn't be more vulnerable than she was now, and even Dorian had accidentally seen her naked before, though it was a memory that she'd take time later to remember.

* _Have you seen the news yet this morning? - Dorian*_

She shook her head and finished in the shower, wrapping a towel around herself and moving back to her bedroom. He was no doubt overreacting to something related to Temnota and she would reassure him that they were already doing everything possible to catch the man. The TV activated for her and she sat on her bed drying off.

"Temnota's men struck once again this morning, using Vacuo's own military tech against itself to overpower them and steal a large shipment of Dust from the SDC. The SDC declined to comment as Vacuo regulations currently don't allow the militaries of other kingdoms to interfere on their soil. It appears that if things carry on this way, the SDC may refuse to continue trade with Vacuo," the reporter said. Olesia froze for a moment with the towel on her head, and her eye and tail twitched.

* _Why hasn't Winter or Ironwood told me about this? Why am I just finding out now?!*_

The message composed and sent itself to Dorian and she walked to her closet as the PA dialed Winter Branwen.

"This is General Winter Branwen of the Atlas Military," she answered dryly in her normal rehearsed manner.

"When were you planning on informing me that the SDC is no longer trading with my kingdom?" Olesia asked.

"Olesia…" Winter began.

"I am running this kingdom, don't act like I'm a child," Olesia told her. She could hear Winter sigh after a long pause.

"Why can't you see that the other kingdoms just want to offer their support," Winter asked.

"I can do it on my own!" Olesia snapped.

"You sound like one of my students," Winter told her. "I'll talk to my sister, but she can't continue to afford to lose Dust in Vacuo, so for the moment, she put a hold on exporting to your people." Olesia stepped out of her closet wearing a pair of leggings and tank top. After this, she'd head out for her morning jog. "I can't blame her and I know this is bad for your image, but you have to understand where she's coming from."

Olesia rubbed her forehead. Yes, she understood. But they needed to understand that she was doing her best to take care of the situation. Wasn't that enough for them? And she had always idolized Ruby and the rest of her team, but why was everyone insistent on her needing help? Dorian never insisted she needed help… but he was always there to help if she needed it…

"Ask Weiss to reconsider, and perhaps I will reconsider as well," Olesia told her. She hung up and grabbed her keys. Now to continue her… She froze in place for a long moment, the security system speaking to her. There was a large number of people that were waiting in her foyer, but she knew that she had nothing scheduled this morning, and if Dorian had stopped by, he would have deactivated the security system before entering.

"Olesia Lychnítis," the voice called out. She thought long and hard, but she couldn't remember a time that she had ever heard this voice before and she stepped towards her lobby, ready to attack or defend.

"It's unwise," her voice thundered over the PA. "To attack someone with my power in their home." The man laughed wildly, setting slight nausea in Olesia's stomach, but it was nothing compared to what she had felt when face to face with the Grimm that destroyed her home long ago. "You don't know who you're dealing with, do you?"

"They told me that I shouldn't do this. They told me that this was suicide," the man called out into the house that appeared to be empty so far. She spotted one of the men, he was checking for her in the pantry, unfamiliar with the layout of her house. She came up behind him quickly and quietly, activating the ice maker with her power and distracting him, allowing her to easily break his neck unnoticed. "But I didn't believe that at such a young age, you could be as powerful as Ruby Rose." She noted how bitter his voice was as if the words choked him.

"I'll allow you to live if you leave now," she offered over the PA. He gave the same laugh as he had before.

"Overconfidence will get you nowhere," He told her. He lowered his voice, unaware that if he was close enough to anything in the house that was run with electricity, she could hear it. "Split up and bring her to me."

"Do you think it's wise for them to take me on one at a time?" She asked. She stepped into the dining room and two of them spotted her. She slid the door shut between the rooms and locked them out.

* _Dorian. If you can, I'd appreciate you stopping over within the next ten minutes.*_

"They don't matter to me, and they'll gladly give their lives for my vengeance," he explained. "The council needs to pay for what they did to my Goddess!" Olesia didn't follow entirely, but if this maniac wanted a fight, she'd give it to him. "You see Olesia, I have nothing to lose!" The men attempted to open the door using the security panel, but were greeted with a blast of electricity that threw them back against the wall. The door opened for her and she walked past.

"I'm still in the foyer if you're wondering," he told her. "I wouldn't want you forgetting or getting lost on the way here!" She moved quietly through the house, stopping beside an open doorway as one of the men passed by. She drew his attention by opening a door at the end of the hallway and quickly walking past him and into the foyer. Her challenger stood in the door, wearing a brown trench coat, smiling wickedly, his eyes small and crazed.

"Who are you?" She asked. He gasped and placed a hand to his chest.

"I haven't introduced myself?" He asked. "I am Tyrian, and my one and only love that I will give my life for, is Salem." He was dramatic, but Olesia understood his logic better now. He was one of those extremists that had followed Salem before she had been destroyed by Ruby.

"Was Salem," Olesia corrected. His mouth twitched. He smiled as he revealed a switch in his hand.

"Indeed." He activated the plunger and an explosion rocked the house, taking out the floor beneath them and they both tumbled into a subterranean room that had been cleared out. When had they taken the time to do this? How hadn't she noticed?! "We've been at this for a while, you're never home to hear us. Strakh wanted to wait to make use of this, but his plan is too well thought out to fail, and it appears that you forgot your weapons."

"Oh have I?" She asked. She smirked and he threw off his coat, revealing a stinger on his tail that was made of pure dust, something she had never seen before. Was it possible for entire limbs and appendages to be made of dust? Before she could react he was sliding past her. She knocked his tail away with her hand and he front flipped away, activating his guns and firing.

She blocked the bullets with her hands and after several shots, Tyrian paused, not quite understanding what was happening. She placed her palms out towards him, a foot long metal "needle" protruding from the middle of each. Atlas tech. She had done it long ago without Dorian's knowledge, but when they first hid there after leaving Mistral, she had asked the General to give her a weapon that would let her defend herself. She accepted the risk and consequence. She offered her body to them and it had been a success.

This revelation only irked Tyrian more and he moved in quickly to strike. They exchanged glances with their blades before Tyrian caught both of her needles by clamping them with the blades on his weapons. He smirked and his tail swept around his body, ready to inject her. She leapt over it, her legs wrapping around his neck as she threw her weight forcing him to release her weapons as she twisted. It didn't break his neck as she hoped, her grip had loosened too much, but he bounded away from her all the same. She noted Strakh's men leaping in from her house above.

"I'm impressed, but I'm not convinced that you're one of the 'best' per se. Let's see if it holds true," Tyrian told her. She moved slowly in a circle. Either this scorpion knew what he was doing, or he  _was_  suicidal. She waited for one of the thugs to get restless and he charged in… too easy. She stepped past him with speed that caused him to hesitate. She jammed the needle into his neck.

"Here we go," she spoke softly. She released him and the color drained from his eyes. She smirked. Of course, she'd choose a weapon that complimented her semblance, and her needles had the ability to inject her opponent with nanites. Her subconscious was able to take care of the rest from there.

"Attack them!" Tyrian demanded as he charged in. The goon spun and opened fire at Tyrian who finished him off immediately with his tail, blocking her needles again with his pincers. She could feel the electrical wires that had been tethered with the destruction of the floor and they attacked two of the men as she focused on Tyrian, strangling one and giving the other a dose of high voltage electricity.

Several gunshots struck her in the back and she turned her attention towards them, reaching into her bra and tossing something at Tyrian that missed. She moved quickly, a speed that Tyrian could only assume came from her being a bunny Faunus, and she slammed the needles into both of their chests. She injected the nanites and pulled out, turning back just in time to duck under Tyrian's tail. He blasted her back and she slid into the wall, her aura taking several hits before the two men she controlled attempted to take Tyrian on. She threw something behind her again and slid between the men.

"Thanks, boys!" She exclaimed. She knocked both of Tyrian's hands down, his tail taking out the hired help to her right, and she kicked him in the chest, sending him sliding back. The other man still under her watch got several shots in before his tail blocked the rest. She darted through a few more shots slamming two more men to the wall and injecting them as well. She lingered for a moment before turning back to face Tyrian again.

His face was beet red and his eyes had narrowed, now purple instead of yellow. He charged at her and she prepared herself, only to watch him use his tail to vault over her at the last moment and kill the two men she had just took. His tail slashed through the back of her tank top, not cutting her deep enough to inject her with any of the earth Dust, but enough to cause her pain. He fired past at her at the last two thugs that were mounting an attack. She tumbled past them, leaping to her feet and planting against the wall.

"Is that all the help you have?" She asked. "I was hoping to have a little more fun before I killed you." He tilted his head and laughed.

"You don't feel it?" He asked. "Those bullets are from our black market friends over in Mistral. Mistral R&D has been hard at work making some ethically questionable weapons and ammo. But I suppose you're already aware of that. My men were equipped with rounds that nullify your Faunus abilities. Heightened smell, sight, hearing, and agility. All of them dulled to an almost human level." She didn't display any sign of being more nervous than she had been before and it further angered Tyrian.

"I don't think that'll cause any issues to be honest," she told him. He gritted his teeth and charged, letting out an animalistic yell. He clashed with her, both of them exchanging glances and he used his tail to overpower her and push her back to the wall. Pain shot through her body for a moment and she managed to roll across the wall to avoid a direct attack, but another tail swipe sent another wave of pain through her. He chuckled as she leapt back.

"Powerful… Ha! When they told me that you four were the most powerful, I thought that maybe you all had been given the power of the Maidens', but if this is that power, what was everyone so obsessed about?" She grunted as she felt the blood at her side. His aura was going to make this tricky, but if she could get in, it would be the end of him. She just needed a window. Dorian hadn't replied. She might need to do it alone.

"I'm not dead yet though, am I?" She asked with that same condescending grin on her face. He smirked this time.

"Do I hear denial? Are you growing tired? Are the injuries you've received too much?" He asked. She shook her head, trying to disguise her labored breath.

"I've taken worse beatings from Creepers," she egged him on. He shook his head in disbelief.

"So naive for such a pretty face," he replied. She charged him and they exchanged glances, neither landing a hit. His tail swung around and she batted it away with her blades, forcing him to leap back. "You have no long range abilities, and let's face it, you're no match for my short range attacks. You can't win this."

"Now who's overconfident?" She asked. She flicked her wrist and four microchips flew from each side of the room and attached to Tyrian. He looked at them and made a vain attempt to remove them.

"So you missed throwing that at me earlier on purpose," he said. She nodded as she walked towards him.

"I didn't need to be in my house to win. On my way through the kitchen, I grabbed these trap microchips, I have them hiding all over the house for this very occasion. Perhaps you're right. Maybe I'm not the strongest, but I did outsmart you." She explained. He struggled to move, but however her trap worked, it had taken control of his muscular system.

"So an electronic paralysis?" He asked.

"Using electrical impulses," she informed him. "Where's Strakh?" She moved over to him, wiping the blood from her side and looking at her hand. He sneered and his tail shot over his shoulder, stopping inches from her chest. Olesia took a deep breath and glanced up at Dorian. "You got my message."

"And you forget how my time dilations work. Hurry!" He shouted. She nodded and stepped to the side, time starting again as she stabbed him with both needles in the chest. His tail flopped to the ground and his eyes were wide.

"How?" He grunted. She sighed and looked up at Dorian.

"Sometimes strength is found in admitting you can't do it alone," Olesia told him. "Now where's Strakh?" He spat at her, his body under her control.

"Screw you." His tail lifted behind him and impaled him through his chest. He looked down, his head rolling and he laughed manically for the last time. "Well, that's ironic…" She released him and his body flopped to the ground as she watched him, wondering what he had truly hoped to accomplish. She glanced back up at Dorian.

"The council won't be happy to hear about this," he told her. She nodded thoughtfully.

"I guess we'll be asking Mistral to send aid after all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a close run-in with Tyrian, Olesia wins by the skin of her teeth and decides that she needs help from Mistral after all. Next week, will Blake find out about Neela fighting Stardust? Chapter 30 - Morning Memories!
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	34. Morning Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coco tries to avoid telling Blake what happens, while Yang meets Qrow at Summer's grave.

Coco opened the door slowly to the teacher's lounge, poking her head in to see if there was anyone present before entering the rest of the way. She was alone at this point in the small room, it had a few couches, similar to the ones that the students had in their dorm rooms, and a large round table that could seat about ten if need be. There was a counter with a sink, a couple of drawers and cabinets, and a coffee machine of course. Coco let the door shut quietly behind her and she moved to the coffee pot, pulling it off of the burner and taking a sizeable whiff. Old.

She maneuvered around the countertop, preparing a new brew in record time before taking a peek into the fridge to see if anyone had restocked the creamer. Coco took her coffee black, but she had decided to check for Velvet, more than happy to bring a mug to her wife. She dug around, pulling out a few that were caramel and searching in the back for mint or carrot cake, Velvet's preferred flavor of course. She had no luck and hit her head on the freezer door that was shut above her as she quickly stood, hearing someone pull the door open, laughing loudly.

"Then I told him, 'I'm the only one who gets to call my wife a puss-" Yang exclaimed, shutting up with a grunt as Blake elbowed her in the ribs. Coco glanced back and forth at the two of them, both of them smiling, though Yang was now blushing and rubbing her neck. "Oh, hey Coco!" Coco returned each smile and nodded, brushing the hair out of her face and turning to face the pot, determined not to make eye contact again before she left the room. Blake was bound to ask about the mission and Coco wasn't sure of the best course of action. Did she tell Blake and risk her trying to coerce Glynda into calling off any more of these recon missions that would allow the students time in the field? She could lie, but it was only a matter of time before Neela told her the outcome regardless.

This was all assuming that Blake didn't kill her… Oh, Oum. Coco wasn't about to tell her about the scar on Neela's back! That would be the icing on the cake. A strange, improbable scene of Blake running Gambol Shroud through her played repeatedly in her mind. She watched as the coffee brewed, slowly, as though it was mocking her. It knew that she couldn't leave without it, and so it was taking its sweet ass time, sentencing her to a cruel and untimely end. Dripping. Slowly… What the hell Beacon Café Dark Roast, you were never this thick before! She fidgeted with her necklaces as Yang and Blake sat behind her, she could hear them pulling out seats and adjusting. It couldn't end this way!

"How are your classes going so far today?" Blake asked. Coco swallowed hard. Maybe Blake wasn't going to ask at all. Maybe she had forgotten, at least for the moment. She felt a wave of relief crash into her, only to be replaced with an image of Blake standing behind her, her sword held high and a crazed look on her face.  _I saw what happened to Neela's back!_ Coco wiped her forehead with her sleeve and examined the moisture. She was sweating!? How hard?! This was going to ruin her makeup for sure! "Coco?"

"Great! Not too bad so far," Coco said as she made as though she was inspecting the cabinet thoroughly for a specific mug. They weren't going to buy this! She had her own mug, and Velvet wasn't this picky! What choice did she have at this point? "We have quite the group of students this year." Blake chuckled and Yang offered a muffled agreement, a piece of toast shoved into her mouth.

"Yeah, we do!" Yang managed through the toast, gasping as she swallowed. She coughed and shook her head as Blake looked her over. "I'll be fine. Just swallowed too fast." Yang coughed for another few moments, her eyes welling with tears as she finally caught her breath. "You alright Coco? You're looking at the coffee pot like an inmate looks at their last meal on death row." Coco inhaled and exhaled slowly. She was overreacting. That's all there was to it.

"I'm fine. Was just in a rush to get back to Velvet," Coco explained. Yang patted the seat next to her.

"Come join us for a moment! That machine's been running slow the past couple of days anyway," Yang told her. Coco agreed reluctantly and sat with Yang between her and Blake. Images of Blake sliding across the table and choking her with the necklaces she wore flared between synapses before fading. Coco removed her scroll and placed it on the table, something falling out of her pocket and clattering to the floor. What else was in her pocket?

"It slid over here. Don't worry, I've got it," Blake told Coco. She picked it up and glanced over at Coco's. Blake activated the scroll's screen as Coco snatched it away. "Why do you have a second scroll on you?"

"It's Velvet's!" Coco exclaimed. "She doesn't like keeping it on her at work, but she doesn't like leaving it in her desk either."

"Coco, the background was a picture of Neela and Eliana," Blake stated blankly. Yang raised her eyebrow and slowly turned to face Coco as well. Coco sighed and let her face fall to the table with an audible thud. Blake cocked her head slightly. "Coco, whose scroll is it?" Coco was at a loss for words.  _It's Eliana's. I confiscated it last night so that she couldn't call you and tell you that they had failed the mission and landed Neela in the infirmary. Neela's going to be fine by the way. Can I at least have one last cup of coffee before you put me out of my misery?_  Wait! That was it!

"I guess that I must have set Velvet's down somewhere or put it in one of my other pockets. That is Eliana's scroll! She was using it during Tactics Class today and I had to confiscate it," Coco told her. "She just kept going on about the street fair that she and Neela went to last night, or at least that's what she was texting one of her old friends from Patch." Yang nodded as she looked back at Blake.

"That's right, they went on a date last night!" Yang exclaimed. Yang made air quotes with her hands. "Date." Blake sighed.

"It never changes between the two of them, does it?" Blake asked. Coco shook her head.

"I guess not," Coco offered as she stood. The coffee was done. She could practically see her escape! She had dodged a bullet, for now, the mission hadn't even come up in conversation. She breathed more easily and poured two mugs of coffee as Blake removed her scroll.

"I have a message from Neela," Blake told Yang. Coco froze and her eye twitched for a moment.  _My wife is going to Blake you in two!_  Coco shook her head. God, even the puns she imagined were awful.

"What does it say?" Yang asked.

"It says that they had a great time last night but they want to know if we've seen Coco," Blake read. She glanced up at Coco who was still motionless. "It also says that if we see her, we should ask her if they need to meet up with her later for a debriefing." Coco's hands shook as she attempted to lift the mugs and move quickly to the door. "They had their mission last night Coco?" Coco sighed and set the mugs on the table, sitting again.

"Yes," she replied quietly.

"How'd it go?" Blake asked. Coco only looked at her for a long moment before looking away. "Coco…"

"They failed to stop Stardust and collect the item in question. They all fought well, better than expected to be honest, but Neela got a nasty scar across her back that isn't going to heal…" Blake stood up and stepped back from the table.

"I knew it!" Blake exclaimed. Yang shook her head.

"Blake, calm down." Yang implored. Blake glared at her.

"No! I will not calm down! First I have to deal with the stress of the fact that the White Fang is out there again for whatever reason! Then, on top of that, we have to be worried about Neela, who could have died last night apparently! You don't get scars when your aura is at safe levels, Yang!" Blake exclaimed. Yang stood up.

"We don't have any reason to worry about either of those things!" Yang shouted back. Blake threw her arms out, looking around the room in disbelief.

"Don't we?! What if the White Fang come for us again, or worse, Shadow or Neela?!" Yang grabbed Blake by the shoulders.

"We took them out once, we can handle them again. You can't keep playing the 'what if' game with Neela. What matters is that she is alive, and she can take care of herself. I think you forget that at our age we were doing the same thing. It's like Coco said before, we need to trust that Neela can do this," Yang told her trying to talk her down. "Just breathe babe. We can get through this just like we did last time." Blake looked her in the eyes, calming down and nodding her head.

"Neela did well?" Blake asked quietly. Coco nodded feverishly as she stood up from the table.

"She took on the two that Yang had gone against with Pyrrha at Mountain Glenn. We were able to gather quite a bit of intel on their fighting styles and other various behaviors while she fought them. She could have been hurt far worse, but her quick thinking saved herself. It's true what they always said about her in comparison to me Blake…" Blake looked at her, her eyes searching, holding back tears that came with the realization of everything that had been causing her stress. "I wouldn't have been able to think my way out of that situation. Once she has more experience, Neela will be one of the best that this kingdom has ever seen."

"Thank you," Blake replied sniffing hard and glancing over her scroll as it chirped, informing her of a message. She laughed lightly and Yang wiped her tears. "So you cut their night short huh?"

"What do you mean?" Coco asked. Blake laughed again.

"She said that they didn't have time to go pick out a dress for Neela for the dance," Blake told her. The women could see Coco's eyes light up behind her shades and she grabbed up her coffees, throwing open the door.

"Don't worry about a thing!" Coco called back. "I'll have Neela looking like an absolute princess! Eliana won't be able to resist her, I owe her that much!" She door closed and they could hear the caffeine-driven field instructor running down the hall, her boots clicking, more or less thundering off of the flooring through the staffing and administrative building. Blake took a deep breath in and looked at Yang who was simply smiling at her.

"I wonder how big the scar is." Blake pondered. Yang shrugged.

"Beats me, but shouldn't you let Neela know that Coco is heading her way?" Yang asked. Blake laughed.

"Perhaps," Blake chuckled. She sighed. "Everything is going to be okay, right?" Yang hugged her wife and pulled her in against her bosom, petting Blake's head, who almost seemed to be purring.

"It'll all turn out okay babe," Yang reassured her. "There are things that all of us are afraid of. Whether it be people, or pain, or ideas. We just have to learn to adjust, though I will admit, the world was less scary before we had kids." Blake nodded. Yang let her go and pulled away, grabbing her milk carton off of the table and chugging it. "That reminds me, I need to meet with Uncle Qrow this afternoon."

"Your mom again?" Blake asked. Yang shrugged.

"Probably, but I'm hoping this time it's just a social call."

* * *

Mud. His feet sunk in slowly and subtly as he trudged on, ignoring the fact that the earth wished for him to stay put and move no further, or at the very least, rob him of his shoes. He looked down, noting the footsteps that lay before him, not his own but undoubtedly those of one of his nieces. He let out an amused chuckle as he pressed onward. It was amazing to think that this path had been worn and trampled out by countless trips to the cliff side, it wasn't intentional. It was as though She had guided them all that way, implying that if any other route was taken, perhaps harm would come their way, or they would miss something that needed to be seen. He was seeing everything that needed to be seen.

This day She was playing with his emotions more than most. A slight breeze was mussing his hair ever so gently, enough that he could feel it but not so much that it bothered him. He glanced out into the woods and noted the colors of autumn that were reaching their peak, taking the last moments of their life in stride before the leaves would fall to the forest floor. It reminded him of Forever Fall and in turn, reminded him of Her. He finally reached the edge of the woods, standing on the cusp of the clearing and closing his eyes, letting the wind wash over him again before opening his eyes. She stood there smiling at him.

It was the first moment that they had met each other and the initial reaction he recalled having was noticing her red hair. She had run into him at a full-blown sprint as he had rounded the corner with Raven. She sprawled off of him, her papers and books scattering and exploding into a flurry and he was able to see the girl, his breath caught slightly. He had never felt that before. She looked up at him blushing and frozen for a moment, Raven glancing back and forth between the two of them.

"I'm so sorry! I can be so clumsy sometimes, it'll never happen again!" Summer exclaimed, her white cape kicking up around her as she raced around the sidewalk and picked up her materials. Qrow was still taken and Raven stared at him for a long moment, trying to pick his brain and determine what had come over him, but she had a good idea. Raven jabbed him in the gut and continued walking by Summer.

"It was nice to meet you," Raven said briefly, not conveying pleasure or displeasure towards the situation, and moving on towards the dorms. Qrow watched as Summer continued to scramble and he knelt, picking up a textbook at his feet. He looked it over as if he didn't understand the words that he was reading on the cover before glancing past the book at Summer who held her pile of reading material out towards him so that he could place it on top. There was that smile.

"What's your name?" Qrow asked as he gave her the book.

"Summer Rose," she told him. Summer Rose…

_Summer Rose._

How could he have known at the time that she was going to change everything? How could he have known that there was something bigger going on and that she was the key? Sometimes he wondered if it would have been easier if he had never met her. He pushed the thought away and walked across the clearing, looking out to his left and right, noting the lack of Grimm. He smirked again. There were always Beowolves when he came out here, but today it was silent in a calm way. Normally the quiet was unnerving, but this time he welcomed it and reached her grave after a few moments, kneeling and brushing off the stone.

"Hey Summer," he spoke softly, choking the words out. "I don't come out here nearly as often as I should, do I?" He shook his head and sat cross-legged beside the grave, staring out at the forest that carried on below for what seemed like hundreds of miles, maybe even to the end of Remnant. He removed his flask and took a swig, coughing and recapping it, placing it back in his jacket. "You always warned me to stay away from this stuff. You knew somehow that if I started I wouldn't be able to stop." He chuckled and shook his head. "You were right Short Stack, but I need something to take the edge off, and this is the best I can do."

"You found me that night," he reminded her. "You were so naive and young and… and beautiful, but you really didn't understand what was going on around you, did you? You told me that morning that Tai had finally proposed to you, and you were so happy, weren't you?" Qrow sighed. "But I died inside. I just put on a smile, gave you a hug and congratulated you. And then I headed to the pub. What else could I do?"

"Sure, I could have told you then that I loved you and was just never man enough to say it, but that wouldn't have been the right thing to do. We could never have worked out." He looked at his hands as they shook and he stood, removing the flask and dropping it onto the ground, unable to grip it for the moment. He looked at it for a long couple of seconds through tear soaked eyes as he regained his composure. "Maybe I was selfish to think you'd want to be with me. You're the only person who I was never unlucky around." He looked down at the stone as tears fell from his face and splashed against the leaves on the ground. "I was drowning in your eyes Summer. I thought maybe you felt the same."

"Why did you want to meet me out here?" Yang asked as she pulled her long coat closer to her body and slowly made her way across the clearing, kneeling at the grave. "Hey, mom." Qrow sniffed and chuckled.

"Mom huh?" He pried. Yang looked up at him before looking back at the stone.

"Yeah. I've taken to calling her that since we adopted Neela. It really got me thinking about my childhood," Yang explained. "I don't remember Raven being there ever. How young must I have been that I can't remember a time that she was there for me? But Summer was always there for me. Cuts. Scrapes. Bruises. Cookies. Hell, even when I went looking for Raven, she'd always offer to pack food for Ruby and I before we set out." Yang felt her emotions catch in her chest and she clutched at her shirt. "I was so lucky to have her, and it took me years of searching for a mother that wanted nothing to do with me to realize that I had a mother all along." Qrow rubbed her shoulder.

"I think that's pretty accurate. Seems like you've got your head on straighter than I thought kiddo," Qrow told her as he helped her to her feet. "I'm sure you know what this is about then." She looked at him and then looked away, taking a few steps away from him, placing Summer's headstone between the two of them.

"Raven's still looking for us, isn't she?" Yang asked. Qrow nodded as his niece sighed and shook her head. "What can I do then? What can I possibly say or do to let her know that I really don't want anything to do with her anymore? Can't you tell her to give up?" Qrow grinned.

"Nothing's that easy with Raven," Qrow told her. "Once she sets her sights on accomplishing something, nothing stands in her way."

"Not even having a child," Yang muttered. Qrow sighed.

"You're too old for me to yell at and too wise for me to try and convince you're wrong," Qrow said. He bent down and picked up his flask, taking another sip. He offered it towards her but she declined. "She's coming, Yang, whether you want her to or not. You're going to have to face her-"

"I won't forgive her," Yang cut him off. She had almost shouted it and her chest heaved slightly. "I can't forgive her Qrow, and you can't expect me to." Qrow nodded.

"You're right. I don't expect you to. But you  _will_  have to confront her. She wants to make amends-"

"Do you believe that?" Yang asked him. She searched Qrow's eyes before rolling her own and walking back towards the path in the woods.

"I'm just telling you what she told me, Yang!" He called out.

"I'm not angry at you Qrow! I'm angry about the fact that she thinks she can just show up and act like nothing ever happened, just because her clan is dead and she has nowhere else to turn! If she shows up, she is going to hear me out, and what she hears isn't going to be pretty!" Yang stormed off back through the woods and he rubbed his forehead before glancing at Summer's memorial one last time.

"Maybe if Salem hadn't ended your life so soon you would have been able to convince Raven to come back like you told me you would," Qrow spoke. "Yang's right. You were her mother."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yang will have to face Raven at some point it seems. Next Week: Chapter 31 - Dance NITE!
> 
> A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	35. Dance NITE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beacon holds a dance, but is there trouble afoot?

"I'm never really sure what I'm supposed to be calling you," Neela told Coco as they walked through the large department store, Neela moving quickly to try and keep up as Coco marched on like a woman who was on a mission. Coco knew exactly what she wanted and she knew exactly where it was, and if anyone got in the way it wasn't going to end well for them. Coco stopped in front of the perfume and jewelry counter for a moment, looking down a few of the aisles and back towards the far end of the store before continuing on, Neela chasing after her as she had stopped to catch her breath.

"You can just call me Coco when we aren't at Beacon, Neela. I am your godmother after all," Coco told her, marching towards one of the customer service representatives. The man shook slightly as she approached his counter and she slammed her purse down on top. She grabbed him by the tie and he struggled as she pulled him close. "I don't recognize you, you're new. Where is Flynt?" He still struggled and she finally let go of him, more or less throwing him back, and allowing him to gasp for air.

"I am new, yes! And Mr. Coal had a meeting this afternoon, but he should be out any moment…" He was cut off by a whistle from the other end of the store from which Coco had just come from. Flynt stood with his head tilted, a large smile plastered on his face as he spread his arms out. He peered over the top of his shades.

"Yo Adel!" He called out. Neela watched as Coco turned from military combatant to schoolgirl in seconds flat, Coco running over to Flynt as though he was one of her girlfriends, grabbing him by the lapel as they exchanged kisses on the cheek with each other. "How's it going girl? I ain't seen you in here since the new school year started." Neela walked over and joined them, Flynt peering past Coco to look at her. "Who do we have here?"

"This is Neela Xiao Long, Yang and Blake's daughter," Coco told him. Neela smirked thoughtfully at Coco's answer. It was a given that the first time she was introduced to someone they would tell the person that she was adopted, but Coco had completely omitted the fact and Neela appreciated it greatly. He tipped his hat and took her hand, kissing it.

"A pleasure to meet you," he told her. "Name's Flynt Coal. Coco and I go way back." He wrapped his arm around Neela and cupped his mouth. "I have some wildly inappropriate stories about her." Neela chuckled.

"You have  **one**  wildly inappropriate story about me, and I don't think we'll have time to get around to telling her that today," Coco told him. Flynt waved her off and let Neela go, moving back over to Coco.

"So, what brings you in here today Adel?" Flynt asked her as he walked around to the other side of the jewelry counter and looked at something on the laptop that was sitting open.

"A dress. Neela needs one for the dance Friday night," Coco told him. Flynt nodded without looking up from the laptop before slamming it shut and stepping around to join them, removing the tape measure that was draped around his neck and measuring Neela quickly. He kept nodding, making sounds of approval as he thought over the dimensions in his head.

"Suck it in just a little," he told her. She stood up straight and extended her arms. "Perfect." He finished, threw the tape back over his shoulder, and jotted down the results. He motioned with his head. "Follow me." Coco marched after him, grabbing her purse quickly off of the counter where she had left it before as they passed by and Neela nodded at the man.

"Coco, we can go somewhere else to get a dress, I'm not going to be able to afford anything here. Plus I was kind of hoping that I could get Elli's approval." Neela told her as she caught up to the two of them. Did they have a speed other than quick, or was that the only thing that they knew? Coco stared ahead at Flynt, following closely.

"I'm paying for the dress Neela, it's the least that I can do," Coco told her.

"What do you mean?" Neela asked.

"For last night," Coco told her. Neela rolled her eyes and exhaled hard.

"Why? We failed the mission and I got hurt in the process. I wouldn't say that our performance is worthy of recognition or thanks," Neela replied. Coco chuckled as they reached the dresses and Flynt pulled them off of the wall in a flurry, looking them over before shaking his head and throwing them back up.

"It's not always that cut and dry Neela. I know Ozpin was gone before you were born, but this battle against evil has always been a chess match. A matter of wit and strategy, and I couldn't have collected any of the information on Stardust that I had last night without you," Coco informed her. Neela folded her arms.

"You could have gotten some of the teachers together," Neela told her. Coco sighed.

"Yes, I guess I could have done that, but then you'd still be as ill-prepared for your next battle, and who's to say that if the next battle you fight had been your first in a non-simulated scenario, you might have been hurt worse due to lack of experience. All things to think about, but I think overall it was a success. Your team chemistry is becoming stronger all the time. Sure you might have waited too long to stop the masked woman, and you should have moved in to steal the item sooner, but all of that knowledge and intuition comes with trial and error. I wasn't always perfect… I'm still not perfect," Coco told her. Flynt nodded as he still shuffled through the options before him.

"Being a Huntsman or Huntress doesn't mean that you aren't ever going to get hurt. It only means that you have a higher purpose and that higher purpose is to protect those that you love. Did you do that?" Flynt asked. Neela thought it over. Could Eliana have handled Sirius and Orion on her own? Would she have gotten hurt like Sirius promised? If she had died, Neela wouldn't have been able to forgive herself. She took it all into consideration. Next time she would do better. She had to.

"And if that isn't reason enough to let me buy this dress for you, I have another reason to get it for you," Coco told her. Neela tilted her head slightly.

"What's that?" She asked.

"Lamar," She told Neela. Neela was confused, what did she have to do with Coco's son?

"Lamar?" Neela asked. Coco chuckled as Flynt threw a dress at her and she draped it over her arm.

"You're the reason that most of us have kids. If it wasn't for you, Weiss never would have looked into the technology that allowed Velvet and I to have him. Seeing how Blake and Yang looked at you, it made Weiss want that very thing, and so she got to work and didn't stop until she found a way to do it," Coco explained. "So if for nothing else, let me thank you by buying this dress."

"If you insist," Neela replied reluctantly, she still didn't think it was that big of a deal. Coco smirked.

"I do! And why would you want to bring Eliana with to pick out your dress? Aren't you going to surprise her?" Coco asked. Neela rubbed her jaw back to her neck, blushing as she looked away from Coco. "You're going with Eliana, aren't you?"

"Not together. We'll both be there, just not together," Neela said quietly. Coco glanced over at her.

"I just assumed that you two would be taking each other…" Coco tapered off as she saw the worry and stress in Neela's distant eyes. "She doesn't know, does she?" Neela shook her head.

"Is it that obvious?" Neela asked. She looked at Coco who met her gaze with sympathetic eyes. "If it's this obvious to everyone else, she has to know too, right?" Coco shook her head.

"That's not necessarily true," Coco reassured her catching another dress from Flynt. "Everyone knew that I was in love with Velvet before Velvet knew. I thought that I couldn't make it any more obvious unless I had strapped a sign to my chest confessing my love. She had no idea. It tore me up for a long while." Flynt glanced at Coco for a moment as she shook her head. "I almost lost her to one of our colleagues at the time."

"What happened? What made you change your mind and decide to say something?" Neela asked. Coco glanced at Flynt and shook her head slowly.

"That story I told you that I had about Coco," Flynt said. "It's funny in a way… a very strange kind of way. We decided to hook up because Velvet had started seeing this guy and Coco couldn't bring herself to say anything about her feelings. When things started getting hot and heavy Coco kept calling out Velvet's name. It was quite the turnoff, but I was understanding…" Coco chuckled and clicked her tongue.

"What an understatement," she said. "Flynt told me to go tell Velvet how I felt. All I could do was cry and apologize for doing that to him, but he understood completely." He nodded and shrugged as he turned back to the shelves.

"I waited too long with Neon," he replied. "I didn't want to see the same thing happen to you." Coco looked down at her purse for a moment before looking back at Neela.

"Don't wait, Neela. Don't wait for someone else to come along and steal her away from you," Coco told her.

"What if she doesn't like me back?" Neela asked.

"Isn't the pain of trying and failing better than not knowing?" Coco asked. Neela stared at herself in the mirror beside her. That was just it. She didn't know if that would be better. "I know you're afraid and unsure Neela, but I do know that she'll never know how you feel unless you tell her."

"Let's try some of these on," Flynt exclaimed trying to lighten the mood. Neela smiled at him out of politeness and nodded.

"Sure," she said. Neela grabbed a few of them up and moved into the changing room, hanging them on the door and stripping down to her dark blue bra and panties. She looked herself over in the mirror.  _I noticed that my boobs are still slightly bigger than yours._

_Did you like what you saw Eliana? Did the sight of my breasts take your breath from your lungs? Did the idea of them stripping my blue undergarments from my body cause you to fill with an unexplainable heat? Did the curves of my naked body force your heart to stop until you took notice and told it that it needed to start once more? Was there a craving to touch me? Do you feel what I feel for you?_

_This is what I feel for you._

Neela trembled as she thought about it and admired herself in the mirror for a moment. It was true, Eliana had always had a larger bosom, but Neela could easily make an argument that her ass was more ample than…

"COCO!" Neela screamed out. She threw the door open, forgetting where she was for a moment as she felt Flynt's eyes on her as well. He blushed momentarily, pulling his hat off and covering his face, walking away quickly. Neela grabbed a dress off of the door, covering herself and blushing as well. Coco looked at her for a moment before raising an eyebrow. "Coco!"

"What?" Coco asked. Neela's face flared with heat and embarrassment.

"Get in here!" Neela demanded. She reached back onto the bench in the small booth and grabbed her gauntlet, grappling Coco and not leaving her a choice. Neela shut the door behind them.

"Neela, what's wrong?" Coco inquired again.

"What's wrong?!" Neela asked incredulously. "Look at my back!" A long scar ran from Neela's left shoulder blade to the right side of her back at a diagonal, placing it about level with her breasts. "What?!"

"Your aura was damn close to breaking during the fight with Sirius and Orion. You're lucky it was just a scratch," Coco tried to calm her down.

"Lucky!?" Neela shouted. Neela felt on the verge of tears, her chest heaving. She was going to hyperventilate! Why had this happened?! Her body had been perfect, and now it was marred! Torn by some jackass who was satisfied with disfiguring a high school girl! Her throat closed and she leaned against the wall, shaking her head in denial. "How is this lucky?"

"You could have died," Coco said unsympathetically. Neela looked at her in shock. How could she be so cold?!

"But my back!" Neela tried to protest. Coco grabbed her and sat her forcefully on the bench, pulling up the bottom of her shirt and revealing claw marks across her stomach.

"Your back is a small price to pay if it means that you saved your own life or the life of someone close to you. I got this protecting Velvet from a Beo," Coco explained. "Maybe it's not flattering. Maybe it makes people uncomfortable when they see it when I go to the beach. When I see it every morning in the mirror after I shower, however, it reminds me just how much I love Velvet and how far I'd go for her." Neela looked up at Coco with wide eyes. Coco smirked as she softened. "And just imagine how erotic that thought might be when you and Eliana finally go all the way." Neela blushed.

"Why do you have to say it like that?" Neela asked. Coco laughed.

"Because I know from experience," Coco told her. "Now come on. You're Neela Xiao Long. Prodigy. Warrior. Huntress. You're stronger than some scar and a little fear. You strive to be the best and you work hard for it." Neela nodded and stood up, opening the door to let Coco out.

"Thanks, Coco," Neela replied. Coco looked at Neela and smiled. She would be just fine.

"Anytime kid," Coco reminded her.

* * *

"Oh my, Oum!" Tawney yelled as she ran across the empty cafeteria and jumped up and down in front of the stage that had been set up for the performance that night. "Oh my, Oum! I can't even function right now guys! Why is nobody else as excited as I am!?" Tawney leapt onto the stage and looked out at the cafeteria that was completely devoid of students and tables, with the exception of Team CBLT and most of NITE. "In a few short hours, Jeff and Casey Williams are going to be performing here and I'm going to be in the front row! I don't know if I can handle this!"

"You can handle Grimm, but you think that a concert is going to do you in?" Cobalt asked. Tawney's excited school girl persona dropped and she leapt down, marching up to him and grabbing him by the collar. "I was only joking… take it easy…"

"Maybe I'll start downplaying your anime, huh? I thought I heard you sobbing from the bathroom as you were watching it the other night," she growled. He struggled to break her grip, his armor assisting greatly.

"I was! It was about a kid who played piano who met this girl with a violin…" He grunted as she regained her grip.

"I don't care!" She bit at him. He reached down for his sword.

"The feeling… is mutual…" He brought his arm up but Lykos caught it and shoved Tawney back.

"Both of you cut it out," Lykos told them. Cobalt brushed himself off and Tawney sneered, both of them glaring hard at each other and nodding. They took off in separate directions and Lykos looked back at Bái shrugging. She smiled.

"Thank you for making them stop Lykos-kun," she exclaimed. She grabbed his arm and he glanced down at her for a moment before looking back at Cobalt.

"Didn't leave me with much of a choice," he told her. "I just don't understand what's wrong with them."

"Sexual tension," Ilia joked as she and Titus met them in the middle of the floor. Eliana was a few steps behind.

"That never happens with Nee-" Titus began, crying out in pain as Ilia had slammed her foot down on his and held her butterfly knife to his throat. "Us. That never happens with us." Lykos shook his head.

"You're making a really horrible case for yourself," Lykos told him. Titus nodded, biting his lip slightly.

"Do you have to be so rough?" Titus asked. Ilia scoffed.

"For Atlas Military, you're awfully soft." She flipped her knife around in her hand before putting it back in the case on her hip. "And if you'd stop being dense, I wouldn't have to hurt you." Ilia glanced over at Bái. "Are you making him get dressed up?"

"He's agreed to wear a white button up," Bái told her.

"Without the pelt?" Ilia asked. The girl shook her head.

"With." Ilia looked Lykos over.

"You'll be fine for a night, won't you?" Ilia asked him. Lykos shook his head.

"It was a gift from someone special," he explained. Ilia rubbed her forehead.

"Suit yourself," Ilia replied. Eliana walked past them and looked up at the stage for a moment before feet could be heard moving quickly across the room and they turned to watch Tawney run past to join Eliana.

"Hey, Elli! So, I heard that you aren't going with anyone to the dance tonight," Tawney pried. "I don't have anyone to go with either, so I was thinking that maybe you and I could go together. If you think you can handle The Maniac, that is." Eliana looked to be deep in thought for a moment before turning to Tawney with a smile.

"Thanks, but I think that I'll be fine going alone," Eliana replied. Tawney turned a bright red and balled her fists, biting her lip.

"Sure," Tawney seethed as she stormed out again. Eliana stared up at the lights again and Ilia joined her.

"Eliana, are you okay?" Ilia asked. Eliana nodded and looked over at her.

"I'm fine. Didn't get much time to sleep last night since I was finishing up homework that we needed to turn in today. I was going to have Neela help me with it earlier in the week, but since she ended up injured and then Coco stole her last night, she didn't get the chance to," Eliana explained. She flashed her signature smile and started heading for the doors. "I'm going to head back to the dorms in a while to wait for Neela to get back." Ilia and Titus nodded at her in acknowledgment.

"Where is she at anyway?" Ilia asked as Eliana began to walk away.

"She said that Coco wanted to do her make up for the dance tonight," Eliana explained. With that, she left and Ilia glared at Titus.

"What?" He asked. Ilia marched over to him, Lykos, and Bái and lowered her voice.

"Be more careful what you say when Elli's around. If she finds out from anyone but Neela, Neela is going to murder us, and I can only imagine her preferred method," Ilia told him as he swallowed hard. He nodded.

"Right." He agreed. "Let's go get ready." They all nodded.

"Right!"

Eliana walked towards the cliff and stared out at the water as the sunset was blooming and scattered colored light off of the waves, sending it refracting in every direction. It was a few days away, wasn't it? She was always happy go lucky, and she was a master at masking the pain when she had Neela around, but the anniversary of her father's death was Tuesday, and everyday closer reminded Eliana of the pain even more. They had come home and found him dead on the floor. Grimm had torn him completely apart. There was no hope that he might survive. It was a bloodbath, and it had been her father's blood.

What if she and her mother hadn't gone into town? Maybe they could have saved him… or maybe they would have died with him. Eliana crouched, holding her chest in pain and shaking. Tears fell from her eyes as she watched the sunset. It was a perfect sunset. Her father would have loved it. The thought brought even more tears. What was taking Neela so long? Eliana needed a pick me up before she headed off to the dance where she'd be ogled and undressed by the boys there, and some of the girls. Eliana had a natural kind of beauty, and it wasn't that she flaunted her body, but the outfit that she had chosen was more or less revealing. She was comfortable in it, and that's all that mattered.

She was sure that Neela would tell her that she looked beautiful in the dress she had picked out, Neela never hesitated to let her know. It took everything in Eliana not to blush, but coming from Neela it meant the world to her. Neela was the one person she could always depend on. She loved Neela deeply and she knew that Neela loved her too. They were connected. Since the day they had met, until the day they would die. It was an unbreakable bond of friendship that Eliana knew that they would never lose. She finally composed herself and sat along the drop, staring at the rocks below, and remembering the first night when she and Neela had snuck out there and enjoyed the cool of the night.

"Hey dad, it's me," Eliana spoke, the breeze carrying her words out to the ends of Remnant. "It's been so long now that you've been gone. I'd tell you how long, but Neela told me that dwelling on it would only hurt more, so I'll try not to focus on the details too hard. She really is amazing, dad, I think you'd be proud of the choices that I've made so far. Neela thinks so." Eliana laughed lightly. "I'm always going on about her, aren't I?" She sighed. She always went on about Neela, they had done everything together and Neela had taken her father's place as comforter.

"But she's amazing and perfect like you." Eliana thought about the year so far, turning it over in her head. "Beacon has been everything I imagined and more so far! I haven't met any cute boys yet, but I'm sure if I give it enough time I'll find the one." She laughed. "Neela says I shouldn't worry about it. She sounds so sure, but I'm at the academy now, and if I don't find someone before I graduate I won't have time once I'm a huntress. I'll be far too focused on my work." Was there anything else…?

"Neela and I snuck out here and watched the stars and tide the first night we got here. It was amazing! Oh, and I tried using the trick that you told me about but it was too much for my body to handle. Maybe once I get better I'll be able to use my semblance to predict movement. Plus we had a game of capture the flag last weekend and we dominated. That is until one of our teammates was nearly frozen to death by another one of our friends. And Neela and I went to a street fair last night!" Eliana smiled as she looked up at the clouds that were drifting by slowly. "I don't know the best way to put it, but it was magical!" There was nothing else to say. She had told him everything that mattered. She closed her eyes and let the wind caress her.

"I love you, dad. I miss you," Eliana managed to choke out as she stood. The tears were building up again and she turned around to find Blake behind her. Blake gave her a warm smile and Eliana threw her arms around her, sobbing softly. "I'm sorry Mrs. Xiao Long! I shouldn't be so upset!"

"Who told you that?" Blake asked looking at her.

"Nobody, I just don't want Neela to see me like this!" Eliana exclaimed. Blake smiled and held Eliana in her arms. "Normally I would just tell her but she seems like she's been under a lot of stress since the beginning of the school year."

"Both of you girls are strong. You don't need to put on a façade for each other though," Blake explained. "Sharing in pain is what friends are for. Neela would be more than happy to help you bear the load." Eliana shook her head.

"I just hate causing Neela pain." Eliana managed as she inhaled hard between crying.

"Causing pain and sharing pain are very different," Blake told her. "I've done my fair share of both, I know." Eliana nodded and Blake pet her head until she calmed down, detaching her and looking her over. She lifted Eliana's chin. "Why don't you come with me back to the apartment and I'll help you do your makeup." Eliana nodded and laughed.

"I'd like that, thank you, Ms. Xiao Long." Eliana walked beside Blake towards the teacher housing units.

"Eliana."

"Yes. Ms. Xiao Long?"

"You can just call me Blake."

"Oh. Right."

* * *

"Welcome!" Velvet said greeting Team CBLT with a smile as they entered the cafeteria. The lights had been largely been dimmed at this point, strobes and lasers lighting up the dark building and casting after images of students dancing out on the floor, different niches had gathered together in different areas and were enjoying themselves. Cobalt nodded at Velvet in acknowledgment and they walked past out onto the floor, Cobalt looking out for a punch bowl or anything else that might be available to drink. Tawney pointed.

"Some of these kids are wearing uniforms from different schools," Tawney exclaimed.

"Who would come all this way just for a dance," Lykos asked.

"Maybe they were invited by significant others," Bái offered. Cobalt frowned.

"That's probably it," he agreed. "Anyone see Team NITE?" Lykos pointed.

"Titus and Ilia are over there," Lykos told him. He glanced over at Lykos surprised. His scanner hadn't found them yet, but Lykos spotted them in a second.

"How'd you see them so fast, it's pretty dark in here," Cobalt stated. They headed for Titus and Ilia.

"It's not that dark," Lykos replied.

"I beg to differ," Cobalt rebutted. "I could touch Tawney on the butt and she'd never been able to see that it was me." Tawney turned to him, what little light was in the room glanced off of her eyes.

"Want to test that theory?" She asked cracking her knuckles. Cobalt smiled and waved his hands in front of him.

"No thanks, somethings are better left in my head," he replied.

"Most of the things you say are," she jabbed.

"Hey guys," Titus greeted them as they arrived and stood in a mass, all facing each other so that they could carry on a conversation. Lykos scanned the room as though he was looking for someone.

"Anyone else notice students from the other academies?" Tawney nodded.

"That's what I said!" she exclaimed. "Plus, who wears their school uniform to a dance?" Cobalt chuckled. "You don't even wear it when we're supposed to in class," Cobalt reminded her. She folded her arms.

"I hate them with a passion," she replied.

"Where are Neela and Eliana?" Lykos asked. Ilia shrugged.

"Last we heard, Coco was getting Neela ready for the dance. Maybe Eliana decided to join them," She offered. The rest of them nodded in agreement with her and someone tapped Titus on the shoulder, forcing him to turn around and face them. The administrative assistant with the pink eyes that he had gotten his map from on day one stood with her hand extended, wanting him to take it.

"Might I trouble you for a dance?" She asked. His eyes searched hers and he glanced back at Ilia. She could read it in his eyes. Something was wrong but he had a sternness that told her not to worry, that he'd be able to handle it on his own. She nodded at him and he looked back at the woman, taking her hand. He smiled softly.

"It would be a pleasure," he replied as he left with her. Ilia watched for a long moment as they disappeared into the crowd.

"You two are a thing now, right?" Cobalt asked. Ilia chuckled and shook her head, sighing.

"Nope. Just really good friends," she answered.

He followed her out of the cafeteria and onto one of the greens that were littered with students that needed a breath of fresh air or wanted to show up and get the music without the feeling of needing to get all dressed up. Titus noted their faces, not recognizing him and his mind thrashed suddenly, turning over into some irrational idea that he was being ambushed but he brushed the notion off. He could take these students. He wouldn't even have to break a sweat. She smiled at him softly and he returned it. At this point, they were both playing a game of cat and mouse, and only one would be able to outmaneuver the other.

"Camellia," he finally spoke breaking the silence. Her resolve never changed and her expression never faltered as the song that had been playing ended, and a waltz began to play. She curtseyed, glancing at the other students whose attention had been lulled in at the scene. She was well aware that students at Atlas Academy were required to take a ballroom dancing class. It wasn't that he hated dancing, but he could feel so many eyes on him, waiting in silent wonder to see if something amazing happened. He didn't have a choice. He needed to talk to her, and he didn't know that he'd have another chance. Just as they had told him it would, it seemed that the dancing classes would pay off. He positioned his hands on her waist and in her hand, and they maneuvered flawlessly as if they had been practicing for this moment for months as if they were being judged at a competition. Students gasped and drew the attention of friends, taking videos on their scrolls. She sighed softly, as though she were content.

"I was afraid that maybe you had forgotten us," she told him. "You didn't have the slightest tell that first day." She searched his eyes and he trembled inside. He knew the dangers of meeting eyes with this woman, but he peered back into hers for answers and somehow they seemed soft and kind. She looked past him, staring blankly, not focusing on anything in particular. "You suppressed it, didn't you? The fear… Or what you could." He was frozen again as he returned to her gaze and darkness consumed him until he was alone and his body moved by itself. He couldn't hear the music, he couldn't hear her breathing. He could only hear his own heartbeat before the familiar ringing of a sniper rifle filled his ears. "The lesson was taught well. Admon had really outdone himself with that plan."

"You're wrong," Titus spoke with a smirk. She looked up from his chest and peered into his distant eyes. The darkness cleared and he was returned to his dance, a mass had collected around them and he smiled wildly now, more aware of the development around him. She shook her head and sighed, glancing over his shoulder at Ilia who had appeared, her mouth agape. "Letting others help you through trials isn't a sign of weakness. Sometimes strength is recognizing a need for outside help. A new perspective-"

"You learned nothing then," Camellia told him. "What's to say that they won't betray you? Who's to say that they aren't just using you for your strength?" Titus glanced over at Ilia and Camellia grabbed his face, pulling him towards her so that they were only a nose apart. "You can still join us, Titus. You don't have to admit weakness. You don't have to admit defeat." He swallowed hard and pushed her away slowly.

"The difference is that we can trust each other," he explained as the music ended. She bit her lip and nodded slowly.

"I guess you might be right. Perhaps that is what we lack," She told him. She curtsied again and he bowed as the students erupted into applause and she made an attempt to walk by him but he grabbed her arm. She looked at her arm and then up at him, his thoughts were somewhere else as he stared up at the stars.  
"Do you know where Nat is?" He asked her. She shook her head.

"You have nothing that I want, and for that, I have nothing to give," she replied. She pulled herself in and softly kissed his lips, a gesture that shocked him. "Just remember that trust is easily broken." She managed to free herself and she left the crowd as they swarmed in and greeted him. Camellia managed to sneak away and walked down a long pathway back towards the dorms, circling over to the woods that separated the safety of Beacon from the dangers of Remnant.

"Do you have the information?" A voice asked stepping out from the tree line, her sneer now visible. Crimson moved out of the shadows and stood several feet away from Camellia, her hand extended, waiting for an item to be placed in her palm. Camellia removed the flash drive, watching Crimson's eyes follow it, enraptured by the object.

"This is the information that you want, but you're going to have to talk to my brother one last time in order to access what's inside. The staff here at Beacon is very thorough, so I was forced to decrypt the files and encrypt them in a way that's more specific to Atlas Tech, but it won't be an issue for Admon to pick apart." Camellia held it out but kept her grip as Crimson tried to pry it free. "Why do you need this so badly, and what's in it for us?" Crimson smirked before stepping closer, her hand on her hip, gently feeling her weapon over.

"If it wasn't for me Admon would still be in that prison in Atlas, don't forget that," Crimson reminded her. Camellia gave a fake smile and let Crimson take the drive. "Not to mention your brother is getting exactly what he wanted as we discussed initially. If anything, you owe us again."

"We've already made arrangements, have we not?" Camellia asked. "Admon's been keeping me out of the loop so that if I'm questioned they won't be able to get anything out of me." Crimson walked back towards the woods.

"Of course. We've sent some of our fighters to assist your brother in smuggling Dust into our possession from the mining trips that the SDC is making to Menagerie. In return, you're going to help us lift some Atlas Tech in the coming months." Crimson stopped for a moment and chuckled. "I guess now if they question you, you have no excuse." She sauntered away and Camellia watched her disappear into the darkness before turning back to the dance. There was still much work to be done before Admon could get his revenge.

* * *

A strange feeling had overcome Ilia as she had witnessed Titus kissing the mystery woman and she walked alone towards the cliff, the area devoid of all students, as any stragglers that weren't already in the building had been drawn in by Titus' performance. What was this dread that gripped her, this strange feeling of disappointment? He had lied to them, hadn't he? Titus said that he was only going to focus on schooling and nothing else… So then why did that woman kiss him the way that she did? It looked tender, and it was knowing! Why was Ilia so worried? She had no reason to be jealous.

_I think of you three more like sisters._  That's what Titus had told her, over and over, and she wondered at first if maybe it was just a coping mechanism to keep him or them from becoming too close to one another. She knew it wasn't, but she had hoped secretly. Part of her wanted to know more about him, to know everything about him. Part of her wanted them to be each others. But is that what she really wanted, or was it a past of loneliness crying out for affection? She wasn't sure.  _Like my sister._  Ilia sighed. He had told her countless times, and it wasn't just a deflection. He meant it.

Ilia looked out at the moon and sighed. It was a subtle yet throbbing pain. Dull. Confusion set in slowly and she trying to brush it off but she glanced back at the school and realized that despite how much she had connected with her teammates in the first few months, she still felt very alone. She wanted to tell them what she was going through, but putting it out there risked bringing in people from her past. She couldn't let that happen. She felt safe for the first time since the accident.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing all the way out here?" A voice asked behind her. She became slightly rigid for a long moment. She didn't recognize the voice and turned slowly to find a student wearing a Haven uniform peering out at the moon over her shoulder. He seemed taken with it as he stepped up so that stood beside her. He had a jet black faux hawk with gold tips, captivating the eyes of would-be love interests, but not as much as his piercing gold eyes. The moonlight seemed to reflect right off of them, making them shine even brighter, as though they were giving of their own light. Ilia was intrigued, his mustache-less goatee with a pseudo-soul patch was a bold choice, but he pulled the look together nicely. He couldn't have been any more than one year ahead of her.

"Maybe I should be asking why you'd follow a girl out here who's all alone," she replied defensively. He chuckled and raised his hands, taking a step back.

"I didn't know that you were out here alone," he replied. "Bold of you to tell me so." She rolled her eyes and began walking back towards the school. She didn't know him, and it really wasn't wise to put herself in this situation. She was tough and scrappy, fighting her way out of many situations in the past, but the students here and at the other academies weren't like the men in the Vacuo Military. They were trained, fine-tuned for fighting Grimm and other huntsmen and huntresses.

"It was a pleasure," she called back to him.

"Do you ever get the feeling that you're alone in this world?" He asked. She paused for a moment. He didn't know, did he? He couldn't! No, he was probably just making an observation, but she lingered a moment longer to hear him out. She had always been overprotective and he hadn't done anything up to this point to make her distrust him. "Like the moon."

"What are you talking about?" She asked. She looked back at him, his eyes still mesmerized by the celestial body.

"The moon. It has to be lonely, doesn't it? Fate has damned it to an eternity of never knowing the warmth or the touch of the sun, the moon's obvious beloved. The night was filled with stars, perhaps to keep the moon company, but because the moon never knew the love of the sun, it knew that something was missing, but it didn't know what, it felt lonely despite being surrounded. Perhaps that's why it's shattered. Maybe the Brothers ripped it from the day, hoping that it would be okay on its own and give light to the night. But it only desires to reflect its beloved. It can always see the sun as it rises and sets, but it will never reach it," he spoke.

She looked at the moon and his words settled with her. He was a romantic, to say the least. She didn't want to trust him, it was in her nature, but with the feeling that was poured out in his words, there was no doubt that he was describing his own feelings. He grabbed her hand and she snatched it away, glancing up at him.

"Perhaps you are my sun?" He asked. Her face became dark red and she punched him in the gut without giving it a second thought. He groaned before hitting the ground, coughing violently. "Too much?"

"Laying it on a bit thick, aren't we Romeo?" She asked. He chuckled.

"I read it in a book once," he told her. "Usually that line gets them." She scoffed. Of course, he had used that line before. Of course, he hadn't come up with it. What was she, crazy? To think that this stranger could catch her attention so easily! She commended his effort, but she wasn't about to become the target of a one-night stand.

"So you say that to all of the girls?" She asked. She turned and sauntered away, back towards the school.

"Wait!" He called out. She stopped. She couldn't exactly explain why she did, but she stopped. "Let me make it up to you." Her body froze, torn between leaving him there on the ground, and waiting to hear him out.

"How?" She asked. He found his feet after a moment and walked over to her. He was a few inches taller than she was and she met his eyes. They were kind… Dammit! Why was this happening? She did want to become interested in this guy, wasn't she just getting over Titus?

_Like a sister._

"How does ice cream in Vale sound? My treat?" He asked. She looked up at him, her eyes still deeply involved in his. The moon bit was too much. His opening was rehearsed. She should tell him to get lost… but what did she have to lose? She only had one chance to live her life, and he seemed decent enough for now. Plus, it was just ice cream, and if she got in trouble, she could always call Titus. She shoved him back.

"Yeah. Sure," she replied.

* * *

"Funny as this may seem, I didn't go to the dance with Yang," Blake told Eliana as the two of them walked towards the cafeteria from the teacher apartments on the other end of campus. "Yang went alone; she was more or less in charge of coordinating the event with Weiss. I went with Sun." Eliana was shocked to hear that. She had just assumed that Yang and Blake had been an item the entire time that they were in school. "Yang is the one who convinced me that I should go though." Eliana nodded and chuckled.

"Blake, when did you and Yang start dating?" Eliana asked. Blake hesitated for a moment, the question surprised her and made her anxious for Neela's sake.

"Our situation was a little bit different than what any of you are going to go through," Blake said forcing a laugh. "We were only here for our first year of school. The school was destroyed after that and Yang and I didn't see each other again for almost a year. Why do you ask?" Eliana stared up at the stars.

"Mom and dad used to always talk about how they met while he was at the Academy, and how if they hadn't met while he was still in school neither of them would have had time to have gotten married," Eliana explained to Blake as they reached the tower. "I haven't met anyone yet. I'm just hoping that I still have time." Blake rubbed the top of Eliana's head.

"There's still plenty of time for you yet Elli. It's only your first year, and everyone is different. Who's to say you won't have time after you finish schoo-" Blake trailed off halfway, her mouth agape as she stared past Eliana. Eliana acknowledged Blake's shift in attention and glanced back to see Coco who was standing beside Neela, her arms stretched out as though she was presenting the girl as some kind of piece of art. Eliana stood in awe, Neela did look like a piece of art. Her makeup was done in a way that only Coco could have pulled off, bringing out all of Neela's features, her hair was even permed. She wore a long and exaggerated dress, strapless, which left her back bare. "Neela…"

"Neela, you look amazing," Eliana said, her own jaw slightly slack. Blake glanced over at Eliana before looking back at Neela who was blushing and she felt herself on the verge of tears. Her little huntress had been reduced to no more than a beautiful shy girl, ready to join her date for the dance. Neela averted her eyes and traced the ground with her foot, her hair sparkling as the moonlight danced off of it and she looked sheepishly up at Eliana.

"You look great too Elli," Neela replied quietly. Eliana smiled and ran to Neela, looking her over. She lightly bounced on her feet.

"Doesn't she look outstanding?!" Eliana asked Blake. Blake nodded, still forcing her tears to stay where they were forming. "It's not every dance that I can say I was the date of the most beautiful girl in school!" Neela's eye grew as she looked at Eliana.

"Elli…" Neela managed, a smile creeping onto her face. She began to smile from her cheeks and she laughed as Eliana grabbed her by the hand, helping her to hike up her dress and began running towards the cafeteria.

"Come on!" Eliana exclaimed. "Let's show you off!" They disappeared and Coco joined Blake who was inhaling deeply to keep herself composed. Coco looked her over before looking up at the sky.

"You can let it out Blake," Coco told her. Blake threw her arms around Coco and embraced her tight, burying her head in Coco's shoulder.

"Thank you, Coco!" Blake sobbed. "I don't think I can thank you enough." Coco held her close for a moment.

"Think of this as my thank you for Neela's help earlier this week, I owed it to her," Coco reassured her. "Now let's go chaperone some kids, shall we?"

* * *

"I've never been this dressed up before," Neela explained as they headed towards the tower from Coco's office, she had made a few last minute touches to Neela's makeup, and they were finally ready to show Beacon what their star huntress had been transformed into. Coco was proud of her work, as always, but she had transformed Neela from a warrior into a princess in a matter of a few hours. Neela was grateful, albeit a bit embarrassed. She wanted to look perfect for Eliana, but she didn't want to attract the attention of everyone.

"How does it feel?" Coco asked.

"It makes me feel a bit nervous, to be honest," Neela explained. Coco nodded.

"Perfectly normal, but you'll feel better in just a few minutes," Coco reassured her.

"Why's that?" Neela asked as they rounded the corner. Neela spotted Blake and Eliana, Eliana looked just as amazing as she normally did in the little black dress that she had picked out, and Blake spotted her first. Her mother's mouth unhinged, eyes moistening as Eliana realized what was happening behind her and turned around. For some stupid reason that Neela couldn't explain she felt more bashful than she ever had before, Eliana's eyes had lit up at the sight of her and it was almost like they were drinking her in.

"Neela…" Blake managed before she was cut off by Eliana, which was probably for the best.

"Neela, you look amazing!" Eliana declared, her mouth open in wonder as well. Neela blushed at the words and glanced at the ground, trying to find something to focus on as she dragged her foot across the walkway.  _Amazing. She said amazing._  Neela felt a warmth and happiness fill her slowly.  _Eliana said that I look amazing._

"You look great too, Elli," Neela managed.  _Amazing._  The word had touched her deeply. Eliana was instantly at Neela's side and she looked her best friend over from head to toe.

"Doesn't she look outstanding?!" Eliana blurted out. Neela watched as Blake nodded gently, her mother trying her hardest to stay composed. "It's not every dance that I can say I was the date of the most beautiful girl in school!" Everything became black instantly and Neela's eyes widened as they searched for the light. They found it quickly, Eliana's hand, outstretched for Neela to take.  _Elli. What are you doing to me? Do you mean it as my friend, or as more?_ Neela was shaken.  _Beautiful._

"Elli…" Neela found the girl's name as an overwhelming happiness molded face into the largest grin she had ever felt. She laughed and Eliana took her by the hand, practically dragging her towards the dance.

"Come on!" Eliana demanded. "Let's show you off!" Neela ran as fast as she could in the heels that Coco had picked out for her and stopped Eliana short of the doors. "Neela, what is it?" Neela looked away and stared into the distance. "What's wrong?"

"Everyone's going to be watching us," Neela said. Eliana laughed.

"As they should!" Eliana exclaimed. She pulled again but Neela refused to be moved and she slipped her hand from Eliana's turning around so that she could see Neela's scar. "Is that from…" Neela nodded. She sighed as she looked back towards the tower, becoming rigid and nearly jumping out of her skin as Eliana traced the scar with her finger. "Another memory." Neela looked back at Eliana.

"What?" Neela asked. Eliana smiled at Neela and it melted her as it always did.

"Don't think of it as a reminder of failure. Think of it as our first real fight as Team NITE. Remember how it felt to lead us into battle that night. Remember the smell of the fair and the sounds…" Eliana grabbed Neela's hands and Neela glanced down at them before looking back up into Eliana's eyes. "And the sights." Neela stood motionless for a long moment in thought. Eliana always knew what to say. Neela smiled and nodded her head in understanding.

"Right," Neela agreed. Eliana laughed and yanked her to the door.

"Now let's go!" Eliana shouted. She threw the doors open, they slammed loudly and drew the attention of half of the room, causing Neela to blush and Eliana to wrap her arm around Neela's waist. Neela looked down at the hand on her hip before looking over at Eliana. "Trust me. This will keep you from attracting any unwanted attention." Neela was dumbfounded. If only Eliana knew how counterintuitive she was being at that moment. Eliana waved and smiled at everyone before grabbing Neela's hand again and walking with her across the dance floor towards Titus who had amassed a small following of girls.

"It's a required course at Atlas, it's meant to teach dexterity and other applicable skills. If you ladies don't mind, I need to have a word with my teammates," Titus told the others, smiling and pushing his way through until he reached Neela and Eliana. "Thank Oum the two of you showed up…" Titus was cut short as he could make them out in the strobing luminance from behind him. "You two look stunning."

"Thanks, Gargoyle!" Eliana exclaimed. Titus's eyes changed and he moved in close so that only the two of them could hear him.

"Where did you hear that name?" He asked.

"It's not a secret," Eliana said. "Everyone knows that was the nickname you were given by General Branwen in Atlas. I was waiting for the right moment to use it." Neela didn't follow Eliana's logic, but it was true. Titus' nickname was well known by everyone who knew of his fame for being the youngest Lieutenant General. It was said that nothing phased him. He nodded slowly and shook off the crazed feeling that had overcome him.

"Right. It's just… only one person ever really used that name," Titus explained.

"Who's that?" Neela pried. He chuckled.

"It doesn't matter. A story for another time," Titus told her. "Have either of you seen Ilia?" Eliana shrugged.

"We just got here, we haven't seen much of anyone," Eliana declared. Eliana spotted Lykos and Bái and yanked Neela away. "See you later Titus!" Cobalt approached Titus as the two girls left and he held his punch cup to his mouth, shaking violently.

"Cobalt, are you alright?" Titus asked. Cobalt exploded, tossing his cup behind him and latching onto Titus' arm.

"They're just so damn adorable together, right? Are they an item now? Tell me that they are! I ship Neeliana so hard!" Cobalt demanded. Titus shook him off.

"I don't think so, but get a grip!" Titus yelled at him. "And do something about your nose, it's bleeding!"

"Perfect!" Cobalt exclaimed. Before Cobalt could turn back towards the snack bar Tawney had arrived and shoved a tissue up each of his nostrils.

"Jeff and Casey are about to go on!" Tawney shouted. "You're coming with me!" She dragged him away and left Titus in a stunned silence.

"What just happened?" He asked himself.

"Titus!" A voice called out. He turned to spot Coco and smiled as he waved to her. "They tell me you can dance." He laughed.

"Is that so?" He asked. She nodded.

"Want to show me what you got?" She asked. He smirked.

"I don't know if you can handle it," Titus informed her. Cheering erupted from across the cafeteria as Shine was being sung by the performers, and somehow JNPR had found their way onto the floor. Yang and Blake stood near one of the tables catcalling.

"Do it!" Yang called out. "You guys still got it, right? Don't try and ignore me! Come on! For the kids!" Blake shook her head. Another roar of approval exploded from the student body as Jaune and Pyrrha began dancing, followed by a shrugging Ren, and Nora, who dragged him out on the floor.

"Show offs!" Yelled Coco. Titus looked at her.

"They've done this before?" Titus asked. Coco nodded.

"Jaune was wearing a dress last time," Coco said with a wink.

* * *

"That was the most fun I think I've had since we started this year!" Tawney exclaimed. Cobalt nodded.

"I'll admit, it wasn't half bad," Cobalt offered as a truce. She smiled devilishly.

"Oh really?" She asked. She grabbed his arm and he looked at her with a bite of terror in him.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"If we get out of here now we won't have to help clean up, and we'll have the room to ourselves for a bit," she offered. He thought it over and smirked.

"Okay. Let's go," Cobalt agreed. They took off running as Neela and Eliana left the cafeteria, watching their friends run for their dorm. Neela noted that Eliana was still holding her hand and she smiled at her friend who returned the expression.

"Another memory?" Neela asked. Eliana laughed and leaned her head on Neela's shoulder.

"I think so," Eliana conceded. She sighed and looked out past the tower towards the moon. "I bet dad is really happy. I like to think that he smiled and laughed with every song that we danced to."

"I'm sure he did," Neela offered. Eliana snuggled closer. "It's too bad that we didn't get to slow dance together." Neela realized the words escaping her mouth too late and she cast a side glance at Eliana.

"That would have been the most convincing argument to make everyone think that you're taken," Eliana said. She looked up at Neela. "I think what we did was enough to let them speculate for a while."

"Unless you really want to," Coco said as she exited the building. "I can arrange something for the two of you." Eliana perked up and gently removed herself from Neela's arm.

"What do you mean?" Eliana asked. Neela's face was flushing already, and she turned away slightly, hoping to hide it from Eliana. Coco snapped and Flynt stepped out from behind her, tipping his hat and raising his trumpet, playing a soft and sultry tune on his horn.

"Well?" Coco asked. Eliana looked at Neela and smiled.

"Here's your chance Neela," Eliana told her friend. Neela looked at Eliana's hand which was extended towards her once more, remembering all the things that had happened that night. Neela took her hand, pulling her in and placing her hands on Eliana's waist and letting the girl slip her arms around Neela's neck. They bobbed back and forth slowly as they looked at each other, Neela could feel herself beginning to overheat. They were so close! They weren't saying a word, they were letting the music sway them back and forth, and they were only inches from one another. She could easily steal a kiss… but would that be the end of them? "I'm sorry Neela."

"For what?" Neela was stricken with fear. What did Eliana have to be sorry about? Eliana moved in slowly and rested her forehead against Neela's.

"For making you wait so long," Eliana explained. She slid her hands up, locking lips with Neela and holding her softly as she melted. Neela forgave her in that instant! Neela would have waited as long as it took if she had only known that it was going to feel so amazing! She returned the kiss with her own, another long gentle engagement that seemed to last forever and left both of them in need of air. "I always knew that there was something more to us." Neela's eyes pleaded for another kiss.

"You did?" Neela asked. Eliana smiled and kissed her again.

"Yes," Eliana replied softly. "But I didn't want to risk… us. What we had already that is," Eliana over-explained. Neela chuckled.

"I was the same way," she told Eliana. Eliana kissed her softly again.

"I want us to date Neela. I want us to be a thing. I want to be with you forever!" Eliana declared.

"Yes!" Neela hollered in agreement.

* * *

"Neela," Eliana's voice came in and shattered the movie screen in Neela's mind.  _Right. Of Course. Just another fantasy._

"Yes?" Neela asked trying to play it cool. Eliana sighed happily.

"Your mind is always so flighty my little hawk," Eliana told her. Neela tilted her head, wondering where the name had come from, but it didn't matter that much.  _Her little hawk._ Neela really liked it. "He's done playing. We can head back to the dorm now." Neela smiled at Flynt and Coco, waving goodnight to them while red with embarrassment. Their first quarter at Beacon had come to a close, and it was anyone's guess as to how the next few months would go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What would your ship name for Neela and Eliana be? Leave a comment and let us know!
> 
> It seems like the girls made themselves another memory, and there are questions that need to be answered. Next week: Chapter 32 - Twins!
> 
> Just a note to those of you enjoying the artwork, that Y8ay8a has drawn the official concept art for Eliana! It'll be uploaded on Eliana's trailer for your viewing pleasure, or can be found here! [Click Here!](https://www.deviantart.com/silent-celica/favourites/71533661/NITE-A-Beacon-Story)
> 
> First Dance by Ookaminoki  
> 
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	36. Twins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neela, Eliana, and Titus aren't sure where Ilia ended up after the dance. Later, we discover Raven's true intentions for wanting to return to Yang.

Neela laid in her bunk in silence after waking up that morning. There was very little sound in the rest of the room, a good indication that after the night that they had had, they were going to have a lazy Saturday. She sighed as she rolled from her side and onto her back, staring up and spacing out as she remembered everything. There was only one way that things could really get any better, and she was more than willing to wait it out at this point. Enhanced hearing put her at an advantage, she could hear Eliana methodically tapping away on her scroll, knowing that she was playing another one of her games, but she couldn't hear Titus breathing in the room at all. Perhaps he had stepped out to get breakfast with Ilia. Assuming Ilia had come back.

Neela knew Ilia long enough now to know that the girl was a loner, but she didn't think that she had up and run away. There was no previous indication that would have pointed to that. If anything she had probably pulled an all-nighter or had gotten in later than the rest of them. They had gone to bed at around two and it was roughly ten now, so that was more than enough time for her to have come home, though Titus had mentioned something about seeing her leave Beacon on an airship with some guy he didn't recognize. Was it someone that Ilia knew from when she used to attend Shade? It didn't make sense otherwise. The door of the room was tossed open, Eliana and Neela glanced over at him as he stood in the door with a slice of toast in his mouth.

"Mmhmm. Hmms im gim?" He asked them without taking it out of his mouth.

"What?" Eliana asked as she set down her scroll to look at him. He took a bite out of it and methodically chewed as he held it in his hand.

"Sorry. I asked how's it going?" Titus repeated himself.

"Well from the videos I've seen on Scrollbook, I'm not sure if I should keep calling you Gargoyle or Casanova," Eliana said teasing him. He brushed her off, turning away so that they didn't see him blushing.

"I don't see what the big deal is, anyone who has attended Atlas Academy can dance like that," he told them. He glanced at Ilia's empty bed. "Have either of you seen her this morning?" Neela shook her head.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Neela replied. The three of them exchanged glances at each other, Eliana shrugging slightly. "Well, now what?"

"Maybe she is over at Team CBLT's room?" Eliana offered in suggestion. Neela and Titus looked at each other before Neela leapt off of the bed and moved next to Titus.

"Why?" They asked in unison. Eliana joined them and shrugged again.

"At the very least, maybe they've seen her?" Eliana asked. Neela thought it over. Ilia didn't really talk to anyone on Cobalt's team, but maybe one of them had bumped into her in the hallway or cafeteria that morning. It was worth a shot.

"Alright, we can go ask CBLT," Neela told her.

"Great!" Eliana exclaimed. She turned and looked up at Titus who was on his scroll. "Texting that girl from last night?" He smirked.

"No, I was trying Ilia," he told her. Eliana smiled.

"So you're going to help us find her?" Eliana asked. He smiled back at her and put his scroll in his pocket.

"I've got nothing better to do until my one on one training this afternoon," He responded. He opened the door and gestured his arm towards the hall. "Ladies first." Eliana bounced out in her usual happy go lucky manner and Neela raised an eyebrow at him, stopping for a moment.

"Nothing better to do?" Neela asked coyly. "If I didn't know better Lieutenant General, I'd say that you're worried about Ilia."

"I'm worried about what happened last night if that's what you mean," he replied. He stopped her, Eliana still continuing down the hall towards CBLT's room.

"What happened last night?" Neela asked.

"We're given a lot of specialized training in Atlas to help us read situations, determine potential threats, diffuse situations, inciting-"

"I get it, Titus," Neela said cutting him off.

"After I finished my dance last night with Camellia I caught a glimpse of Ilia before she disappeared," Titus told Neela. He rubbed his forehead and sighed. "She had this upset look on her face." Neela put her hand on his shoulder and he glanced at it. She smirked.

"I'm not saying that you're assuming she's interested, but you've said it more than once that you think of us as family," Neela told him. "It's okay to worry about her. Just proves that the army left a little bit of humanity in you." He inhaled deeply to reply as Eliana reappeared in the doorway.

"Are we going?" She asked. Neela let go of Titus and nodded to Eliana who smiled back at her, they locked arms and headed down the hallway. Titus followed after them. Of course, he cared about Ilia, she was his teammate, but he still had a hard time saying it out loud, or even admitting it to himself. He was getting better, he had been able to face Camellia, but Admon really had done a number on him and his psyche those few years ago. They stopped at CBLT's room as the girls knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Cobalt called out.

"Us!" Eliana yelled back. "Can we come in?"

"Not yet, I'm naked," Cobalt replied.

"No, he's not, come in!" Tawney yelled out. Eliana opened the door and they stepped in, Cobalt busy soldering something together at his desk, shirtless but wearing sweats.

"You fiends!" He yelled. Tawney threw her pillow across the room and it hit him in the back of the head. "Hey! Careful!"

"They let you use a soldering gun in the dorms?" Titus asked. Cobalt chuckled.

"No one else knows," Bái exclaimed from the bathroom.

"I'm pretty sure Ms. Goodwitch knows," Lykos offered from his bunk reading. Cobalt rolled his eyes.

"What makes you say that?" Cobalt asked.

"Well, she is the Advanced Dust Mechanics teacher, isn't she?" Lykos asked. Titus's eyes grew wide.

"You're in Advanced Dust Mechanics?! You're only a first year, how did you get into a class like that?" Titus asked.

"My dad's an… inventor of sorts. Taught me everything I know about fixing and creating mechanisms and devices," Cobalt told him. Titus leaned in to look at what Cobalt was working on as Eliana and Neela sat down on one of the beds.

"Is this a project or something?" Titus asked.

"Yeah. Tawney and I came back here early from the dance last night and she told me that she'd watch some anime with me because I enjoyed the concert. She fell asleep two episodes in and so I decided to work on my project. I haven't slept yet," Cobalt explained.

"I was tired! I was kind of interested. It was cool that he had that metal arm and his brother was a robot," Tawney replied.

"He's not really a robot. He's more of a suit of armor," he corrected her. He glanced back but she was ignoring him at this point, watching back what she had recorded from last night. "Anyways, I've been working on this for a week or so now and it's going to be finished just in time for Monday's due date."

"Alright, so, what is it?" Neela asked.

"It's a Dust Dampener!" Cobalt exclaimed. They all stared at him blankly for a long moment. "Any Dust that passes through it is either destroyed or the effects are weakened." Titus placed his hand over his mouth and nodded.

"This is a prototype or a scale model of something bigger?" He asked. Cobalt sighed.

"In theory, yes, but it's actually going to be used once I get it back after it has been graded," Cobalt explained. "Lykos and I-"

"Mostly Cobalt," Lykos interjected.

"-Decided to research something that would allow us to nerf Bái's abilities in a manner of speaking. The strange thing that I came to discover is the fact that this device has the same effect on Dust as it does on Bái." Titus looked back at Neela and Eliana, deep in thought.

"You're not suggesting that her powers are derived from Dust, are you? Semblances and Dust are different," Titus said out loud, though everyone in the room was well aware of these facts. Cobalt shook his head as he adjusted something on the bracelet.

"No, that would be absurd. If anything I think her power is just the ability to draw water and ice Dust from out of the earth and manipulate it," Cobalt told them. "This device will keep her from hurting or killing anyone when she has one of her outbursts when she gets upset or stressed."

"She can't help it," Lykos said sternly.

"I'm just stating the facts." Cobalt replied throwing his hands up defensively.

"Glad to hear you're making progress on your project and helping Bái and all of that, but we came by to ask if any of you have seen Ilia," Neela said as she stood up and pulled Eliana to her feet. "I don't think that she came back to the dorm last night." Cobalt shook his head.

"She never did," he told Neela. "I was up all night and after you guys returned to the room, no one came through the hallway until Titus left for food this morning." He stood up and stretched up, reaching above his head. "My scanner would have picked up on her." Eliana looked at Neela.

"Now what?" She asked.

"I guess we just have to wait for her to come back," Neela said. "We have nothing else to go off of, and I'm sure she's more than capable of handling herself."

* * *

Ilia's eyes opened slowly as she stretched her body out, staring up at a light fixture that she didn't recognize and trying to make sense of the situation. What had even happened while she was out last night? Her head was pounding and she remembered that she had been at the dance for a while before she saw Titus dancing with that girl. He seemed to be having a good time, but what had happened beyond that? She rolled over, realizing now that she was on a couch and she was faced with two sliding glass doors that led out to a deck that overlooked the beach and ocean in Vale. Where was she? Who the hell did she know with this much money, the place even smelt expensive! Cobalt? She always figured that Cobalt had a little more money than the rest of them, maybe she had ended up at his parents' somehow?

That didn't make any sense, she needed to remember what happened!

"Well, it's good to see that you're awake. I was starting to get a little worried," came a woman's voice. It was soft and soothing, similar to how she remembered her mother's voice. "I swear to Oum, Vincent, I am going to beat the hell out of you! What were you thinking!?" That's right! She had met him last night before leaving the dance! They had gone to Vale and had gotten some ice cream, a 'date' that she was thoroughly enjoying, so what happened? How did she end up here? "Are you okay?"

"My head hurts pretty bad, but I think I'll be okay," Ilia said as she sat up on the couch and glanced back towards a large kitchen. She spotted Vin, still wearing his Haven uniform like he had been the night before, the girl standing on the opposite end of the room from him, her arms folded as she leaned back against the countertop. This wasn't his mother, the girl must have been their age. She was the tall and slender, but it was obvious that she was still a force to be reckoned with. Her abs were toned and she wore a pink sports bra with skin-tight black leggings. She had long white hair that flowed past the small of her back and light blue eyes. Two large white wings protruded from her back, a bird Faunus.

"Forgive him, he's a bit of a dumbass sometimes," The girl bit at him and not in a playful matter. She seemed legitimately worked up over the whole thing. Ilia could sense there was something going on here… Wait… Oh, Oum…

"Are you two dating each other?" Ilia asked.

"Hmmph." The girl let out in a sarcastic and amused grunt. "Once upon a time we did, but that's all in the past now." Ilia thought for a brief eclipsing second about standing, but her head began to pound again as she shifted. What happened that caused this pain? She was determined to be careful last night, though she found herself slightly grateful towards this girl's presence. At least she could be relatively assured that he hadn't tried anything while she was out.

"If I might ask, can I get a name?" Ilia inquired. "And would it be stepping over the line to ask why the two of you broke up?" Vin groaned and moved to the refrigerator, the female pushed herself up off of the counter and walked over to the living room.

"Oh I like this one, Vincent," she called back as she sat on the couch next to Ilia. "I'm Ivory Aletta." She leaned over and cupped her mouth, whispering in Ilia's ear. "He's dreadful in bed." Ilia chuckled and glanced back at Vincent.

"So what happened to me last night?" Ilia asked.

"You slipped getting back onto the airship," Vincent explained as he poured himself a glass of milk. "I've never seen anyone hit their head so hard on a bench." Ilia raised an eyebrow and Ivory joined her.

"You didn't think to take me to a hospital?" Ilia asked. What had she seen in him last night? Ivory chuckled and turned back towards the patio, crossing her legs and allowing a glass coffee table to support her feet.

"His parents run Citrine Weapons Incorporated in Southern Atlas. Since it's his namesake, he's pretty much under a microscope and anything that he does that's bad publicity will get him punished by his parents. They threatened to take this beach house next," Ivory explained. "We don't attend Beacon… or didn't. Vincent managed to convince his parents that he should be allowed to study abroad, so they bought the beach house and we joined the exchange program."

"So you two are just really good friends at this point," Ilia asked. Ivory snickered.

"Not necessarily by choice," she replied. He sat down and shook his head. "He knows I'm teasing, but I'm here because we're teammates. Team IVRY. I'm the leader. My twin brother Rowan is also on the team, as well as our friend Yvonne Pervenche." Ilia nodded her head.

"Well it was nice to meet you," Ilia told her as she slowly stood up off of the couch. "I should probably get going before my team wonders where I am." She headed for the door and nodded at both of them. Everything turned out fine, but what if it hadn't? She wasn't supposed to be putting herself at risk like this anymore. "I guess I'll see you two around sometime. Vin, thank you for the ice cream last night."

"It was nice meeting you too!" Ivory called out as the door opened and closed.

"Wait!" He shouted out but it was a moment too late. Ivory folded her arms.

"Well, you've taken to her quickly, haven't you?" Ivory grabbed up the remote and turned on the television across the room.

"I only met her last night, but there's something about her," Vincent replied.

"Shut up before I beat you senseless." Ivory shot back at him.

* * *

The Kingdom of Atlas. The terrain and weather left much to be desired. Forests, but more taiga than anything. Rolling, infertile plains, devoid of wildlife and mankind alike. Airships were the preferred method of travel in the kingdom, there were very few villages and even fewer settlements between Mantle and The Capital. Traveling during the summer if ill-prepared would spell out cool nights that would require camping under the stars, but could also mean starvation as natural food sources were scarce, and travel by foot in the winter was suicidal. However, this meant that in the southern half of the kingdom, Grimm were scarce.

Salutem was roughly a day north of Mantle, the small settlement was slowly growing into a village that had a chance of standing the test of time, barring any attacks from bandits. As most villages, it began with a few small farms, a market, and an inn that doubled as a pub, things that would help them thrive long term. However, winter was beginning to set in, and things would be harsh soon. The people of Salutem would have to rely on the food that they had stored up over the course of the year. Visitors would be far and few between. An older gentleman clung tightly to his hood as he stepped into the inn and took a seat in the lobby.

He sat at the table, waiting for a long moment before removing his hood, revealing his short red hair and White Fang mask, but he hardly expected it to be an issue. There would be no outsiders around like there normally were, and the woman that ran the establishment knew him well. He smiled as she spotted him and she brought him a pint.

"Thank you," He replied and he took a swig, staring out the window at the snow that was beginning to come down in blankets. He shook his head, sighing as he could already tell that it was going to be a long and harsh winter. The door swung open again and the man smiled without having to look to see who it was, the owner still cleaning a glass as she glanced up at the doorway. She nodded, recognizing the additional patron, but was surprised to see that she had also come. The howling wind was silenced as the door was shut, and their boots clacked against the wood.

"I'm a bit shocked at the fact that you showed up here, all things considered," the woman said as she sat across from him and set her own mask on the table.

"Raven Branwen," The man spoke, pleased with her appearing. "When Benjamin Taurus commits to something, he never goes back on his word. I would've made it here even if there had been a blizzard and my entire clan had died." Raven looked up at the waitress and thanked her before shooting a murderous look at Ben. "My condolences."

"I didn't need them. They were never what mattered," Raven explained to Benjamin. "What has always mattered the most is my survival, and the tribe was a means of ensuring that." Benjamin nodded as he took a drink. "I know I don't have to tell you that when it comes down to it if you want to survive in Remnant, the only thing that can matter is yourself." Raven looked at her glass for a long moment. "No one can be allowed to stand in the way. I knew that they were coming for us. You told me that Mistral was coming, and you told me that Athena was determined to come for me as well. I've done everything that I could, and everything that I've had to." Benjamin chuckled.

"You've done everything that you've had to," Benjamin said as if recalling the story. "At first, when you left for Beacon, it was left in doubt whether or not you would return to the tribe. Your father told me that he feared that you had left for good. He didn't think that you'd be back to protect his legacy. That was all that mattered to him." Benjamin finished his drink and slammed down the empty glass, staring into it, as though he expected it to refill itself. "Though I guess that's all that mattered to me until Athena was born. It was then that I knew that all I could do at that point was fend for myself alone."

"When I returned at first, it was for the tribe, but the older I got, the more I realized it didn't matter. They didn't matter. So what if the tribe would continue on after my death, I wouldn't be there to see it," Raven stated. "So I let Mistral tear us apart. I allowed them to be ambushed, and I left." Raven stared out into the storm and her hand lightly rested on her blade's hilt. "Caring about the tribe was before I knew that Athena was coming for me… and the Neo-Salems." Benjamin picked up her mask and examined it.

"The perks of being such a powerful woman. You'll always be hunted." Benjamin paused for a long moment. "So you know that the Neo-Salem movement is still alive then," he said. She smirked.

"You knew as well?" She asked him.

"We've known each other for a long time Raven, you know that I'll always have the upper hand on you," he replied to her with a smile. He set the mask down and looked her in the eyes. "You can always come to join us. I know that you're not technically a Faunus, but you are the only person still alive that I trust. We can offer you protection." She chuckled as she motioned for the waitress.

"I'm flattered, but I don't think it would benefit us to both be in the same spot for an extended period of time. With Salem and Ozpin dead, you and I have more insight than most of the kingdom's leaders combined, and it would be too convenient for your daughter," Raven explained.

"At this point, I can only hope that Atlas and Mistral forces find her before she finds me," Benjamin said with a sigh. "She tells her members that she trains with me on occasion when she comes to look for me so that it doesn't appear as though she plans to usurp me. She's still as dangerous as ever, and she gets stronger with every passing day." He stood. "This meeting has exceeded our length restriction." He pulled up his hood and glanced back down at her. "Where will you go?"

"With my daughter. Her team is the most protection I can hope for at this point." Raven stood. "I  _will_  survive." Benjamin grabbed her by the shoulders, and they kissed each other on the cheek.

"You always will." There was a sudden and flat laughter as Raven palmed her hilt and slowly turned around. Qrow stood at the bottom of the stairs that led to the inn's rooms above.

"Ben, long time no see. And if it isn't Raven. It's incredible think that if I took both of you down right now, the bounty would be enough to cover Rosy's life. She'd never have to work once, and hell, I'd never have to work again," Qrow stated as he slowly walked over. Raven heard Benjamin unsheathing the dual katanas that formed his bow staff and she grabbed his wrist, effectively stopping him. Qrow stopped and smirked. "I'm unarmed, and I intend to keep this off the records." Qrow pointed at Raven. "I really just need a word with her."

"I can stay if you'd prefer," Benjamin told Raven. She tried to read Qrow's eyes.

"I'll be fine. You're free to go," she told him. He slid the swords back together, the wood clacking together as he secured it back into its staff form. He nodded at Raven and left, the building filled with the sounds of blowing wind before the door was slammed shut again. Silence. "What are you doing here Qrow?"

"No warm welcome? I'm the only family you have left, I think you could try harder than that," Qrow told her. He turned to the bar on the far end of the room. "Bring me a shot of whiskey. And put it on my tab for the room." Qrow sat and spread his arms out, gesturing for her to follow suit.

"Why are you here!?" She demanded. He cocked a grin and glanced up at her.

"Well, if you have to know so badly, I was on my way back to Vale from visiting my wife and daughter," he told her. "And what are the odds that I would run into you here and you would be confessing to being just as heartless as you've always been." Raven flushed, anger filling her. Qrow's expression became incredulous. "Oh, I'm sorry. You're the one who's pissed off?"

"Maybe it's time I finally ended you," Raven suggested as the waitress left the glass of whiskey.

"I think I need to down this quickly before we end up destroying this lovely establishment," Qrow told her. He slammed the whiskey and leaned back satisfied. "My patience is running thinner by the moment." Raven couldn't find the words. "Trying to make up for lost time. That's what you told me."

"I am," She growled through gritted teeth. Qrow slammed his fist down on the table.

"I heard everything Raven! Cut the bullshit!" Qrow shouted. "You only want to reconcile so that you can avoid threats to your life." Qrow stood up and Raven mirrored him.

"Qrow, if you-" He cut her off.

"I'll keep my word. On mom's honor," Qrow told her. "But I'm not lying for you anymore. If Yang asks about it again, I'll keep quiet." Qrow smirked as he turned away. "If you show up at the Xiao Long residence, our agreement is off… because I will kill you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raven's planning on coming 'home' but will anyone accept that? Next week: Chapter 33 - Solidarity and Cooperation!
> 
> Also, we had Ookaminoki draw the selfie scene from before in chibi form! Check it out!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	37. Solidarity and Cooperation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Titus is still struggling with his past, but can Ilia break him out of his shell?

"Again!" Coco yelled. Titus lifted his swords to block, but Neo once again maneuvered it out of the way easily and kicked him in the chest, knocking him back onto his butt. He sat in a daze for a moment, looking at the blades before finding his feet once again. He struck a pose and prepared to block again but Coco grabbed his arm and he glanced over at her blankly. "Titus, I want to help you get better, but I don't know if today is the best day to do it." Titus shook his head and exhaled.

"It has to be today," Titus told her. "With the new quarter starting Monday, I'm going to be too busy to train later this week or even next week I'm guessing." Coco shook her head.

"What good is it going to do to train if you're clearly distracted by something?" Coco asked. "Is it Ilia?" He glanced at her again. So even the teachers knew that she was missing that morning, despite not having regular classes that day.

"No, it's not Ilia," Titus replied. "I don't know how to explain what I'm feeling." Coco smirked.

"If only you could protect yourself physically as well as you do emotionally," she told him. Coco waved Ilia over who was already walking towards them. "You don't have to tell me, that's none of my business unless you feel like I need to know. But perhaps we should wait to train until you have this all sorted out."

"Hey Titus," Ilia said as she stopped next to Neo who was stretching. Coco smiled and Neo noticed, glancing between Titus and Ilia. Neo smiled as well and nodded at Coco.

"Ilia, where were you this morning?" Titus asked. She blushed and rubbed the back of her head.

"Funny story…" Ilia began.

"Ilia, Titus has a problem that he's not willing to share with us. He doesn't know how to describe it," Coco explained. Her smile grew fiendish. "I don't suppose you could help us pull it out of him." Titus glanced over at Coco.

"What? You just said-" Titus rebutted, but Coco folded her arms and turned away.

"If you don't mind Ilia, could you lend us a hand in getting out of him? Neo, can you teleport to her locker and bring her weapons?" Coco asked. Neo nodded and was back in a flash, strapping them to Ilia before she could react. "A friendly match between teammates, and it'll help Titus get this thing off of his chest."

"Mrs. Adel-" Titus attempted to protest. Ilia sprinted in, her blades plunging straight for his chest. Titus knocked them away with one of his swords as he slid back. "What's the big idea?!"

"Defense training? Isn't it obvious?" Ilia asked. "What would push you to try harder than ever than deep-rooted pain that you're holding on to. You're very defensive when it comes to feeling emotion, but you're lousy at protecting your body. This is just going to force you to have to do both."

"I didn't agree to this!" He exclaimed. Ilia moved to dash forward again, Neo grabbing her as she did so and teleporting behind him, only a few feet away. He heard them… No, he felt them appear behind him. In a swift moment, he spun the Dust selection wheel and slammed his left kopis into the ground, sure he would stop them. A wall of stone rose up behind him and separated them.

Neo moved Ilia again, reappearing before him and in a frenzy he set the other blade to gravity, striking the air and sending her back as he removed the other from the ground. Coco slid in from his blind spot, opening fire and taking some of his aura as he slammed one blade into the wall behind him, and burst of wind Dust shattering it, and throwing the other blade into the ground before him, creating a wall of ice.

What was this sudden feeling that had come over him? He had never needed to fight this hard before, the atlesian soldiers were always a piece of cake to handle. But they also never wanted to probe his mind, and at this moment, the three of them posed a very real threat to Titus's security. It was terrifying and invigorating all at the same time. Instincts he was never aware of.

Both blades sunk deep into the earth as a pillar of rock lifted him high into the air above them. He maneuvered quickly, blocking Coco's bullets and noting that Ilia had disappeared. He had put himself at a slight disadvantage, breaking line of sight before for defense, but allowing Ilia to take a body in the process, but which one? Neo gave him no time to think about it, as she was falling straight for him from above. He threw both of his blades up.

He slashed at her moments after she had landed on his swords, missing her narrowly as she leapt gently and lightly over the attack and landed on his shoulders. He reached up to remove her from her perch, but she hooked one of his kopides and wrenched it away, throwing it to the ground below. He grabbed her leg with his hand that was now free and threw her off, shattering like glass as she hit the ground below. Titus swung his sword, a shockwave of gravity keeping Coco and Neo from making a move as he destroyed the pillar below him and took off running for his other kopis.

Coco guided him with her gunfire, forcing him to arc towards his target and waste some of his speed blocking some of the bullets directed towards him. Titus slid to a stop, swiping his blade as usual and swiftly picking up the second, a wall of fire separated him from the women now and he turned to retreat to the dorms. He had no intention of defeating them but simply escaping them so that Ilia couldn't pry into his mind. Perhaps Coco had gotten what she wanted out of this lesson after all, but he hardly understood why they were pushing the matter so hard. They could do nothing to help, only he could take care of the problem at hand.

There he was again, assuming that he needed to take care of his problems alone and head on, as usual. He was at odds with himself now, he had told Eliana what had happened, and since then, he had slowly opened up more to his teammates, but he still felt he was superior to Neela and he still felt he deserved the leadership. There was no honor in refusing her command, he would be compliant and do what was asked of him. What if he had led the mission against Stardust? Neela had done her best but was left with a scar that would forever remind her of the failure. Titus was strong, he could have taken Orion and Sirius alone.

Titus planted his feet and began running, only to be cut off by Neo. He didn't have time to slow his momentum, he was going to run full on into her extended parasol. There would be no time to block with his kopides. Was there a wrong and right way to handle this situation? Did he actually have another option available to him? Did he not have time to think about it, or was he in too much of a panic? He decided to take the blow and moved quickly to counter, but as he spun around to face Neo again, Ilia had leapt out of her host, using her blades to block his and kissing him hard on the lips.

That was it… He had lost. In a less than a second, she would enter his body and have near complete access to his thoughts and secrets. The problem now was that Ilia seemed to be lingering a bit longer than expected. Titus waited for another moment before finally shoving Ilia back away from him. She smirked and Titus looked at the three of them as Coco approached.

"Well, you lost, but you did much better than you usually do," Coco told him. He chuckled and rubbed his neck.

"Yeah, I guess I did," He agreed.

"Still a terrible kisser. Much worse than the guy I kissed last night," Ilia told him. Titus's eyes grew wide.

"Is that where you were?!" He demanded. Ilia walked away.

"Maybe…"

"You kissed him on the first date?!" Titus yelled. He chased after her. "Hey!"

"Come on," Ilia told him. "I need to let Neela know so she can call off the search party."

* * *

"Titus, I know that something is wrong, why won't you talk to me about it?!" Natalia demanded as she slammed through the door of the recruitment building as Titus left. "We can work through this! We've been through worse!" Titus spun around and stopped in his tracks, prompting Natalia to slam into his chest.

"There's nothing wrong, and if there was, I wouldn't need your help to get through it," he told her blankly. She looked at him in the eyes for a long moment, examining them for a hint.

"It was Admon, wasn't it?" She asked. He shoved her back and continued walking away again. "Why won't you let me help you?! Don't you still love me?!" There was a silence in the plaza as everyone around had stopped and was watching the two of them. He had told her that, hadn't he? He had meant it. But if he didn't do this alone… Admon's words droned in his head, it was all he could hear. Both of them choked back their emotion the best that they could.

"You're being unprofessional," Titus told her. She bit her lip.

"Titus…" She approached him. "Let me help you." Her voice was filled with pain and anguish. Titus turned away once again. "Don't leave."

"I'll be training privately from now on with General Branwen," he told her. "Goodbye, Nat." She grabbed his arm and he flinched out of instinct, unable to stop himself as he backhanded her. Soldiers around them let out a gasp. He looked at his hand for a moment before looking at Natalia who felt her lip.

"What did you do to Titus?" She asked shaking her head. It was the last thing he remembered before her fist connected to his jaw.

* * *

Titus sat up fully before his eyes had time to open and his chest heaved from the panic. Had it really happened? Was it all a dream? Perhaps he was back in the barracks at Atlas, maybe he had never left the comfort of home. That's what he hoped for at least, but as his mind caught up with him it was obvious that he was in the dorm room at Beacon, and that he truly was being haunted by the mistakes of his past. Why had it come to his mind now, did seeing Camellia trigger this?

He slowly tossed his legs over the side of the bed and stared into the dark room for a moment, listening to the methodical breathing of his sleeping teammates. Thunder rolled outside and he looked out as lightning danced across the dark storm clouds of the night. He watched out the window for a few moments, the rain hadn't begun falling yet. It was as though it was waiting for something, but what? Titus quietly excused himself to the hallway and closed the door behind him, dialing Winter's number.

"Titus. What's going on? Do you know how late it is?" She asked as she picked up. Titus sat against the wall and looked at the scroll. Nearly 11. Damn, hopefully, he hadn't woken her up. "Is everything okay Titus?" He sighed.

"Everything's alright General Branwen, I just thought that I would call and give you a progress report before we start our next quarter tomorrow," he explained.

"Couldn't it have waited until the morning, Titus?" She asked. She was right, why would he call this late unless something was weighing on his mind. She chuckled so softly that he almost didn't hear it. "How is everything? Grades are good I would assume? I've been getting updates of a different variety from Weiss." Titus furled his brow.

"Like what?" He asked.

"She told me that you were involved in a game of capture the flag with your friends," Winter told him.

"A training exercise," he explained. There was a pause.

"Any luck with semblance training?" She asked. He returned her laugh from before a sighed.

"I've been so busy with classes and other specialized trainings that I haven't had time," he told her. "As soon as I have time available I will."

"Like I told you before Titus, unlocking your semblance will help you realize your full potential," she told him. He nodded to himself.

"I know." Another long pause. "Winter… General Branwen. Have you talked to Nat… Natalia Ironwood?" He didn't know how to explain it, but he could feel her smiling on the other side of the scroll. "Have you spoken with Lieutenant General Ironwood recently?"

"I'm sorry Titus, but I haven't heard from her since I assigned her to an undercover mission shortly after you and I began training together," Winter told him. "What made you think of Ms. Ironwood?" He groaned as he slowly stood.

"No reason." He waited for a moment, trying to find the right words to say. "If you talk to her soon, will you tell her that I'm sorry for how I treated her?"

"Of course." They both promptly ended the call, leaving Winter alone in her study, a smirk set on her face. "So the Gargoyle's heart is no longer stone."

Titus re-entered the room, closing the door soundlessly behind him again and standing at the front of the room for a few seconds. Lightning scattered once more, the ensuing crash louder this time, as Ilia's silhouette filled the open window. He approached her cautiously and leaned against the wall beside the window. Ilia stared out into the sky, her eyes captivated as her mind was enraptured with the light show. Her breathing was slow and relaxed and Titus hesitated, waiting for her to initiate the conversation. She rubbed her arms, the air outside was chilled. Titus wondered if it would rain that night or snow.

"It's funny how something as simple as rain can be taken for granted," Ilia said when she finally spoke. "It doesn't rain very often in the desert."

"We get more snow than anything in Atlas," Titus told her. Ilia reached her hand out, feeling the breeze and looking at the tattoo on her wrist. She watched the clouds, eagerly awaiting the rain.

"I love it and I hate it," Ilia said. She looked back at Titus. "What was it earlier today? What was on your mind that had you so distracted?" Titus frowned.

"I…" Ilia swung her legs in, sitting with her back to the outside.

"I haven't called Vincent back yet," Ilia told him. "Do you want to know why?" Titus wasn't sure how this was relevant to what was weighing on his mind. She slid off the window sill and moved to Titus, showing him her wrist. "Lyrics to a song called  _Cold_. It was the first tattoo that I got when I was old enough." Ilia's hands fidgeted. "They're for my mother…" Titus looked at her, her hands trembling more than fidgeting now.

"Ilia…" Titus began.

"I've never told anyone this… I've never talked about my mom's death since it happened," Ilia said. She looked up at Titus, a tear slipping from her eye. "You think you're the only one with demons?"

"Ilia… I…" She moved quickly and her fist slammed into his chest, his aura rippling visibly.

"We're not going to do this alone anymore!" She shouted at him. Her fist slammed into his chest again, he stumbled back. He noted Neela and Eliana stirring behind Ilia. "No more hiding our pain!" Another blow. "No more pretending that everything is okay!" And another.

"Ilia," Eliana spoke softly. Neela stood, holding her hand up behind her, silencing her friend.

"I used to be part of the White Fang!" Neela blurted out. They all looked at their leader, a stunned silence blanketing them until it was destroyed by the rolling thunder outside. Emotional exhaust filled the room like a mist as they watched Neela. "I was born into the White Fang. When I was a child I was terrified of humans… and the fact that the Atlesian Army killed them didn't help. I have trust issues because of it…" Neela inhaled deeply, refusing to become emotional. She nodded once. "But it has also made me stronger."

"I choose to be alone because my mother died," Ilia spoke softly. She turned away from Titus so that they could all hear her. "It was a rainy night like this, one of the only times it had rained that summer in Vacuo. A car accident. It was so bad that they forced a closed casket ceremony on us." Ilia looked at her trembling hands again. "My father…" Emotion caught in her throats and she balled her fists, shaking them violently. "He orphaned me! He told me that I looked too much like my mother and that he couldn't bear the pain! He's a coward!"

Titus understood now. That's why Ilia always preferred to be alone. She didn't want to risk being hurt again. And Neela. Neela would stay by Eliana, even if Eliana rejected her romantically. Eliana must have been the first human aside from her mother that she learned to trust. They were trying to overcome their pasts, but he was still playing the role of a gargoyle. Now was the time to begin moving forward again.

"Back when I was completing my training to become a Lieutenant General, I was under the watch of General Admon. His ideology bordered on sociopathic." Titus looked at Ilia who was completely taken with him at this moment. "He tried to kill my family and told me that if Winter, Qrow, and Ironwood hadn't shown up to save me, my family would have died, as would I. He's right." Titus sighed as he stared out the window. It felt good. He didn't know how or why, but a weight had been lifted from him, but he was taken off guard as Ilia wrapped her arms around him.

"Titus, if you're going to think of us as family, you need to learn to trust us more," Ilia told him. "Don't you think so, Big Brother?" Titus chuckled. There was something about the way she said it, a bit of snark despite her tears.

"We don't expect you to get over it right away," Eliana said as she crawled off the bed. "Just… let us help you. Just because you need our help doesn't make you weak. We make each other stronger, and we're stronger together!" Titus rubbed the top of Ilia's head. Just like Glynda said when he arrived. Titus reached out his arm and waved Eliana and Neela in, Eliana tearing across the room before Neela could react. Neela smiled and completed the embrace, Ilia, and Eliana in the middle.

"Okay, guys! Space! Please!" Ilia exclaimed. They all chuckled and let go as Ilia took a few steps back, brushing herself off. Rain began to gently grace the earth and Ilia looked at the droplets collecting on the open window sill. She leapt up, slamming the window close before running out of the room and down the hall. Titus and Neela looked at each other for a moment before they all chased after her. She leapt down the steps, vaulting the banister and tore out of the building.

"Ilia!" Titus yelled. Neela shook her head as they chased her. They were going to get so much crap for all of this yelling. Ilia laughed and spun with her arms out, letting her skin take the rain.

"It's so refreshing!" She exclaimed. Neela smiled at them as Eliana splashed by, grabbing Ilia's hand and pulling her into the grass. This was it. They were slowly becoming a team, weren't they? Neela chased after them, she had spent enough time in the woods and wilderness that rain didn't bother her in the least. Titus wasn't sure that refreshing was the right word. It was cold and reminded him of the rain back home. Lightning flashed again, he was sure that he saw the after image of Admon with his rifle, but it was only a memory, wasn't it? Admon couldn't hurt him now and if he tried…

"Titus, join us!" Eliana exclaimed. Titus nodded and ran for them. If Admon tried anything now, he had his teammates to help him.

* * *

"I'm just saying that if it were up to me ma'am, I would hold every meeting here in Vale. It's a good centralized location, it doesn't get all that cold. I mean, they have a normal winter season, but it's better than the bone chilling cold up in Atlas. It's also not as dry as Vacuo, not that I'm complaining, just stating the facts. I still think that all of this could just be done over video conference or email or something similar but then we would 'lose the human element', but to be honest I just hate having to put up with Siobhan and Sterling every meeting. Don't get me wrong, they're doing a great job with Mistral, but they just think that they're better than the rest of the council. Ruby actually is stronger than the rest of us, but she never flaunts it," Dorian told Olesia as they took their seats.

"You do realize that it's okay to call me Olesia, right? You don't have to be so tense and formal," Olesia informed him. Olesia glanced up from her papers as Dorian nudged her and pointed towards the door. There she was, Ruby Rose. The woman was by far the most decorated Huntress of all time and debatably the most powerful. Her cape more or less floated as she slowly entered the room, grabbing the attention of everyone, the last few meetings she had been out on a mission and had returned successfully. She took her seat beside Qrow and whispered something to him before he replied with a nod. Ironwood also entered the room, a refreshing change of pace considering that the man had been ill for the past few months.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" Ruby called out. "I'm pleased with the fact that everyone was able to make it out today. I'd like to get this meeting underway so that we don't need to waste any more of each other's valuable time than is necessary. Who would like to take the floor first?" Winter stood, glancing down at her notes and clearing her throat.

"First I'd like to give an update on the military and its findings over the last few months," Winter told them. "We've recently been able to pinpoint the location of a large White Fang sect that developed over the last few years in Southern Atlas, being led by Benjamin Taurus. We are trying to bring the situation under control and are analyzing the information that my stealth and extraction teams are reporting. We would like to take them in, or at the very least disband and disorganize them, with as few casualties as possible."

"What's does it matter, they're just a bunch of animals," Siobhan remarked. Olesia slowly stood, Siobhan, watching her with a smirk. Sterling stood as well, turning to face Siobhan.

"Siobhan," Sterling said. "You will not speak like that here. You are entitled to your opinion and are free to think whatever you like, but I will not tolerate you to speak ill of our Faunus companions as such. Another quip like that and I will find myself a new second. Are we clear?" Siobhan nodded, looking slightly shocked, but Olesia wasn't sure why. The woman had been completely out of line. Olesia sat back down and Winter waited for Sterling to follow suit.

"We've also begun to triangulate the location of the Vale sect with the help of the Mistral, but it has been a long difficult process. The area we suspect them to be hiding out in is massive, and every time we get close enough to pinpoint the camp, the men that I send in disappear. I've only sent in two battalions because of that, I'm waiting for Sterling's men to collaborate with ours and see if we have any other options," Winter told them. "The events transpiring with the Fang have caused unrest in Menagerie with our mining operations. The council on the island is in full cooperation, but there's a sense of fear. Any further excavating has been delayed until the issue at hand can be resolved. Next month the SDC will be hosting a charity ball in the meantime to try and replace the funds lost due to lost time." Winter nodded at Ruby and sat down, everyone waited for a long minute before Qrow stood up.

"An update on Vale. Let me first say that our… 'experiment' of sorts at Beacon went over fairly well. Through close collaboration with Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch and our head of information in Vale, Coco Adel. She took one of our best team of first years at the school and assigned them to a mission that had them try and prevent a hand off between a mystery tech provider and the Stardust Gang. On paper, the mission was marked as a failure as the children were unable to stop the trade and the dealer, but we got plenty of intel out of the exchange," Qrow told them removing a device from his pocket and tossing it into the middle of the room. The disc spun on the floor for a moment before light poured out from it, forming a holograph of a masked woman.

"What are we looking at?" Ironwood asked, a rasp in his aging voice that he couldn't seem to shake.

"What you see here Jimmy is a reproduced image of the individual that made the exchange with the Stardust Gang. I would like to point out a couple of things that we've noted that may seem obvious, but deserve to be mentioned. For one, the mask that she's wearing isn't only to conceal her identity. It would seem that it was made out of a hybrid Dust alloy. If our knowledge of Orion's gauntlet would suggest anything, either this mask doubles as a weapon or means to amplify a semblance as well, probably something mind related," Qrow said. The image changed to the device that had been handed off. It was small and round, roughly the size of a baseball. "Look familiar Sterling?"

"It looks a lot like an EMP prototype that my research and development team was working on," Sterling informed them.

"Excuse me, how do you know that the perpetrator's mask was made of a Dust alloy?" Siobhan asked derailing the conversation. Qrow smirked.

"As I've said before, Mrs. Adel really knows her stuff, even just by looking at it," Qrow explained. "Now, we're not really sure what Mercury and the rest of his crew need an EMP for, but I'm sure it's bad news." The image disappeared and was replaced with Tyrian. Olesia shifted in her seat. "Lastly, we think that Mercury might be working for the Neo-Salem Movement." There was a massive shift in the room as Sterling stood. Dorian leaned over to Olesia.

"Did he just say what I think he said?" Dorian asked Olesia. "That can't be!"

"Qrow that is quite the bold claim, considering that we were ensured that the Neo-Salem's were wiped out with the conclusion of Salem's War. Her power was lost with no host to inhabit, and the Maiden's Powers were used to seal the gate to her realm. Even if we assume that they are still around, why?" Sterling asked. "They gain nothing from it. Are they just pissed that we killed off their fake deity?"

"I assume they'd like to avenge her death, much like we did when Ozpin died at Cinder's hands. And the White Fang resurfaced after all this time, is it really hard to believe that maybe Salem's followers were lying in wait until now?"

"But why would they wait?!" Sterling shouted. "It doesn't make any sense!"

"Look, Sterling, I don't have the answers, but we are doing everything in our power to get to the bottom of this mess," Qrow told him. Sterling sat forcefully in his seat and Olesia watched him for a long moment. How had this happened so quickly? Just a few months ago, the world seemed to be at absolute peace, but now it seemed that the two biggest problems that loomed around the era of The Fall of Beacon had returned in full force. She hoped that they were jumping the gun with the idea that the Neo-Salem Movement had been revived. Salem had caused such discord and disarray between the kingdoms in the first place. Qrow finally took his seat and Sterling stood.

"In addition to the assistance that we have lent to Vale by working side-by-side with Atlas, I'm pleased to announce that my military's services have been put to use in Vacuo now, with the full acceptance by Olesia and Dorian. I'm pleased that we could work something out and I look forward to working with their small yet powerful and growing militia to try and take down that bastard Strakh. Above everything else I will be working closely with Olesia in investigating where and how her military assets are being stolen by Strakh and his men," Sterling told them.

"I'm depending on the two of you to figure this out," Ruby told them. "Strakh is amassing a lot of power and if we don't do something about it soon, we may have even bigger problems in Vacuo. Mercury's faction is still small enough that they can be taken down easily if there is an uprising, but I don't want to see Shade fall into the hands of that crime lord. Understood?" Olesia and Sterling both nodded in acknowledgment. "Is there anything you'd like to add before we come to a close Olesia. We were all made aware of Tyrian's attack on your home a few days ago, but if you have anything to add, we're all ears."

"Thank you, Ruby, but I think that will be all for now," Olesia said. They all stood.

"You're all dismissed then. I want to see progress in all areas when we return in two weeks," Ruby told them. They all filed out of the room quickly, as though they were all being forced to get along even though they secretly hated each other. Ruby, Qrow, and Winter stayed behind, Winter bade Ironwood farewell as he left for his airship.

"Any luck on Vytal?" Qrow asked. Ruby looked at the door again to make sure that it was closed and turned towards the back of the room.

"I'm in the possession of some pretty detailed notes as to what the relics are and how all of this came about," Ruby told them. "I'd rather not discuss them here. Any chance the two of you can meet me tomorrow at Beacon?" Qrow shrugged.

"Why not next weekend at Shadow's Birthday Party?" Qrow asked her.

"It's only for your ears and Team RWBY still," Ruby explained. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Alright, count me in," He told her removing his flask. He turned to Winter.

"Ironwood and I have much work to be done before the next meeting. Qrow can fill me in the next time he comes home," Winter told Ruby. Qrow kissed his wife, letting her leave and standing in silence with his niece.

"This was all supposed to die with Salem," Qrow said.

"Come on Uncle Qrow, you know as well as anyone that Remnant always has something up its sleeves." Ruby's eyes glinted and flared silver. Qrow watched her, cocking his head. "I always feel like The Brothers had something more planned for us, for everyone. I just can't figure out if it's something good, or bad."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It appears as though every member of NITE has had a weight taken off of their shoulders. Next Week: Chapter 34 - NITE vs. Cobalt / Vytal News!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	38. NITE vs CBLT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NITE and CBLT face off in an arena setting, but who will come out on top?

"You said this was at random!" Blake complained as she followed Glynda to the arena in the Main Hall.

"What's to say that this pairing wasn't chosen at random?" She asked. "Coincidental? Perhaps. But I think there's a good chance that it was random." Blake shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"I'm still not buying it…" Blake said. Glynda threw open the doors, students cheering all around them as Sun stood the middle of the arena below.

"It's the first arena fight of the second quarter and the first grade! Let's start off with one you guys won't forget for the rest of the year! The top two teams in Year One! NITE vs. CBLT!" Sun shouted. Those spectating roared into chants and whoops, shouting for their favorites. "You all know the rules! Once your aura is depleted, your out! Let's see which team has the tenacity to go all the way!"

"Someone's overly excited," Blake told Glynda referring to Sun. Glynda sighed. "I guess he's really enjoying filling in for Pyrrha on her day off, isn't he?"

"I'll speak with him later," Glynda replied.

* * *

Neela walked to the middle of the arena, waving at all of her peers that were watching her from the stands. Cobalt joined her.

"This never gets old," Neela told him. He chuckled.

"You're right. This is the first time they've had us go toe to toe as teams though," Cobalt reminded her.

"You both ready?" Sun asked. Neela held her sword before her, stoic with her battle stance, prepared to attack. Cobalt quickly formed his sword and stood prepared. They both nodded. "3… 2… 1… Fight!"

Neela knew Cobalt too well, she had trained with him, they had fought each other and together in other classes for sword mastery. She had examined his fighting style on her own, making sure that she caught every little detail when he was up against the teachers. She'd be a step ahead of him, and she knew that he was aware of the fact, so why did he choose to send himself out first against her? Did he not trust his teammates with fighting her? Would it be over if she was simply able to bring him down? Something seemed off. There was a look of confidence in his eyes, it was like he knew something about this fight that she didn't know. They charged at each other.

The two swords met, clashing, the sound of metal meeting Cobalt's Dust blades filled the hall. They both gave, crashing off of each other repeatedly with blinding speed, Blake couldn't keep up. She bit her nails as she watched Neela fight.  _You can do this Neela. I believe in you._  Neela slid back and smiled, preparing to rush in again, watching Cobalt swing his sword over his head, challenging her. Things were about to get interesting. She charged in, Cobalt smirked again and braced.  _Right where I want her._

Neela flipped her sword into its bow form as she reached him, reaching back to grab an arrow but stumbling off balance as he had formed his clone and both of their blades met her bow. She held them back. She gritted her teeth as she slid back on her feet, Cobalt pleased with himself and he let it show. He chuckled as she grabbed the grip with her other hand, still sliding slowly. This wasn't what she had anticipated, but she could still make it work. She flipped her right wrist, hooking the railing above the arena on the far end behind Cobalt. The towing power was enough to drive Cobalt back rapidly, the clone stumbling and rolling across the floor under her as she glanced off of the actual Cobalt and unlatched the grapple.

As she spun around she drew back a fire arrow and launched it, the clone scrambling into the way as Cobalt was still slightly dazed. His copy disappeared on impact.

"Dammit…" Cobalt spat and lifted his sword, aiming to fire.  _How many shots am I working with today?_

_*FOUR*_

Cobalt gritted his teeth. The modifications he had made last night weren't enough for a fifth shot like he was hoping. He didn't have time to calculate what his options were when he ran out, he needed to waste this shot potentially and hope he wouldn't need more. He fired and Neela deflected it back with her sword, knocking his own weapon out of his hand.  _How? How did she do that? How could she have known?!_

Neela chuckled to herself as he watched in disbelief for a moment before calling upon Tawney to enter the fray. She had strategically placed an ice Dust crystal on her grip before the match so that the wind from the arrow's fletching would cause the Dust to erupt, coating her blade. She also knew from watching Cobalt help Bái that ice was all it took to deflect his laser. She was pleased with herself and took a few steps back as the real challenge began.

"Finally!" Tawney shouted. "I've been waiting for this moment since we faced off when we met!"

"I think you're just all talk, Maniac!" Neela responded. Tawney charged at Neela without the offer of any more banter, Neela meeting her tonfas with deflections from her blade, but constantly evading. Tawney's speed and precision were getting better without a doubt, but her over eagerness still made her sloppy enough to allow Neela to land a blow. Her blade slid across Tawney's aura as she was knocked back, charging in again immediately but she'd given Neela too much space and was greeted with an ice arrow to the chest, coating her torso in ice. The distraction was enough and Neela tagged Ilia in. Ilia ran in past Neela, using her blades to deflect and direct Tawney's blows.

"How are you doing that so easily?" Tawney cried out and she leapt back to give herself a moment.

"I wouldn't say it's easy, but you've been training all this time with the sole intent of defeating Neela, and I'm not Neela," Ilia explained. Ilia rattled her with bullets before Tawney was able to combine her tonfas and blast Ilia back with a single shot. Ilia backflipped, landing on her feet and letting her blades drag against the floor to stop her momentum. Tawney was right there, there would be no avoiding the attack. Ilia grabbed Tawney's fist as it swung up, the hit slamming through her jaw, weakening her aura. She left the ground for a few moments, still holding on to Tawney for dear life and finally making the connection. Ilia smirked and disappeared. Tawney's eyes widened before becoming blank.

"Yes!" Eliana exclaimed quietly to Neela.

"I forfeit," Tawney exclaimed to Sun. Sun glanced up to where Glynda stood watching and she gave him a single nod.

"Tawney is out of the match," Sun informed both teams.

"What?" Bái exclaimed. Ilia leapt out of the body and landed in front of her team, rubbing her hands together.

"Nice job Ilia," Titus told her. She winked at him.

"Did you doubt me?" She asked. She could hear someone whistling out above the rest of the noise and looked up, watching as Vin applauded her. She blushed slightly.

"That was dirty!" Tawney yelled.

"But it's not against rules," Ilia exclaimed. "If you want, we can do it again and I'll kick your ass with your own tonfas."

"Come on," Sun ushered them. "We need to keep this going."

"Bái, you're up," Cobalt said looking past Lykos at her. She nodded sheepishly, smiling as Lykos directed her towards the arena floor. She could do this. She would show them all what she learned, and she didn't have to worry about pushing herself too hard. She looked at the bracelet that Cobalt had made her. She hadn't taken it off once since he'd given it to her, she hardly wanted to give it back to him later long enough for it to get graded. It was amazing and gave her peace of mind. Titus stepped into the arena, he was nearly double her size. He unsheathed his swords and gave her a grin.

"I'm glad that we finally get to-" Before he could finish, Bái had dashed past him with alarming speed. Their eyes met as she slid by on a track of ice and his mind crashed into a flurry of options. What had just happened? Had she always been this fast? One kopis crashed through the floor, raising earth pillars around him in a random formation. Bái leapt off of her track and planted her feet against one of the rocks, leaping off and directly towards him. Titus threw up his other blade, meeting hers which she had formed seconds before, a jian made completely of ice. Gasps filled the room as they tried to force each other back.

"He's like twice her size," came a voice from the students near Glynda and Blake. "How is she holding him back like that?" Glynda chuckled. Even Blake was shocked and had an entranced look on her face.

"Sometime's it's the size of the fire in the Huntress or Huntsman," Glynda offered. She realized the irony of the statement, but Bái had a fire inside of her too, didn't she?  _I knew you could do it Bái._  Her attention turned to Lykos who watched on stoically, but she knew that deep down he was a nervous wreck.  _Thank you Lykos. This is why you were all chosen for the teams that you were. You'll all keep helping and driving each other until you reach a greatness that all of you have never known before._  Glynda smirked.

"What is this?" Titus asked grunting. "How are you…" An evil grin found Bái's face and she leapt back, Titus moved to push the offensive but found his feet immobile. She'd frozen them to the ground… but how!? They had maintained eye contact the entire time! What was she?! Titus slammed his free kopis into the ground before him, fire Dust swallowing up his feet and freeing him. He retrieved both blades and retreated back. She charged at him through the resulting steam, taking him off guard. Titus could see it… beyond the ice, beyond the frosty gloss that covered her eyes. Fire. Her face was so intense. What was driving her so hard?

Ice shards slowly began to form as they battled, slowly circling them and Lykos watched on in awe. He knew she could do it, though he owed thanks to Cobalt for the dampener. They had trained hard. Bái was showing them now. She deserved to be here just as much as the rest of them. Lykos reserved himself, her training wasn't for this, it was for the real world. He wanted to make sure that no one would ever hurt her again. He didn't know what it was, but he felt a deep connection to her. It was almost like he cared more about her than himself…

 _Lykos, mommy is okay._ Lykos shook it out of his mind. Why did that flashback keep coming back to him? He didn't feel romantic about her, did he? He pushed the thought from his mind. Not a chance. He couldn't allow that.  _Why did I marry you if you won't even put out when I want you to?! I expect you to give it to me like a good bitch!_ He could never fall in love. He had to protect Bái. He watched as the crystals began to swirl faster. She was about to attack.

Bái swung harder and harder, knocking Titus back a little further with each blow.  _Are you watching me, Lykos? Is this what's holding you back? Is it because I was weak before? This is my moment to show you that I can be just as strong as you, Lykos!_ Titus grunted, desperately in need of an opening. She wasn't going to give him one, but maybe he'd be able to create one. One final grasp at escape, her sword met both of his and triggered a shockwave of gravity, throwing Bái back, but leaving her fractals untouched. They crashed into Titus, too many of them to be countered and too late for him to be able to block them with some kind of Dust formation. His aura was depleted.

"Damn…" Titus seethed. He scanned the crowd for Coco and Neo who sat watching the scene unravel with Velvet.  _What did I do wrong?_

"He looks upset," Velvet told Coco.

"I'd say frustrated more than upset," Coco replied. "I'm not sure what he could have done in that situation."

Titus knelt on the ground, his fists balled as his chest heaved, his breath labored. He grunted hard, as though he was in a lot of pain.  _No, this isn't the time or place._

"Titus, clear out, you've been eliminated," Sun told him. Neela watched Titus as his body shook. She ran in to check on him with Eliana.

"Are you okay?" Neela asked.

"I think… I'm… I'll be okay, just give me a moment…" Titus grunted.

"Neela, I'll let you fight in my place. I'm going to take Titus to the nurse," Eliana said. She looked at Sun. "Is that alright?" Sun shrugged.

"The time limit for this match is close to up, and Neela still has the majority of her aura," Sun told them. "Sure, why not?" Eliana and Neela helped Titus to his feet, sweat beading on his brow. Eliana nodded to Neela and took Titus out of the arena, Neela watching as they left.

"Ready Xiao Long?" Lykos asked. Neela gave him a smug grin.

"Trying to get me fired up?" Neela asked.

"I prefer to fight you at your best," Lykos told her. "I want to prove I can beat the best huntress in school."

"I'm flattered but let's not get ahead of ourselves," Neela replied with a laugh. "Maybe the best Year One student, but I don't know if I'd go as far as calling me the best in the entire school."

"Quit with the banter, get on with the fight!" Yang yelled from a set of lower level bleachers.

"Shall we?" Neela asked. Lykos gave a slight nod, throwing back his pelt slightly, throwing forward his hands, his shuriken flying from him towards Neela. She blocked them as he charged in, making her wonder what his plan was. He activated his semblance, appearing as a Grimm to her and she continued deflecting shuriken. Damn. He knew she was too preoccupied to find him through the illusion. She tried to calm herself, hearing him as she spun around, lashing out. He had managed to grab an arrow from her quiver and it struck her sword.

"Good," Lykos told her. Neela's guard dropped for a moment as his weapons returned, glancing off of the aura protecting her arms. Was she fighting too recklessly, or was he simply that good? As her mind shifted into defense she recalled the incident with Orion for a moment, leaving her open to Lykos who thrust the arrow against her chest, the resulting explosion throwing her back and drawing a silence from the crowd. The untouchable huntress was on the ropes. She slowly stood and her mind quickly reassembled itself.

This was ideal, she shifted her sword into the bow and drew an arrow as Lykos threw his projectiles again. With uncanny speed, Neela shot several of them out of the air and pinned a few to the wall on the other side of the battleground. Lykos removed his hilt, twirling it in his hand before lifting it high, the throwing stars adhering together atop it. He cracked the whip behind him, as it snapped against the ground the projectiles spun faster and generated sparks. He sprinted in, knocking her arrows away, growing closer each second. She quickly formed her sword and reached back.

His whip twisted around her blade and they struggled against each other as she removed an arrow and placed it in her teeth. He reached for it with his free hand and she batted it away, forcing him to release his whip's hold. He leapt back, lashing out quickly and knocking her sword away, moving it and holding the whip behind him.

"Do you yield?" Lykos asked. She moved quickly, swinging her hand up and meeting the whip with an arrow that had the same specialized tip as the one she's used against Orion. The shurikens scattered out, and she placed a sucker punch into his stomach. The wind was knocked out of him as he stumbled back. She moved towards him cautiously.

"Perhaps we can call it a draw?" Neela offered a hand. He smirked.

"You may have scattered my weapon, but it's still functional," Lykos told her. The stars tore past Neela and she slid back from him, grappling her sword to find he was taking the same approach as his opening attack. This was bad, her aura couldn't take much more. As she fended off the projectiles he used his semblance once more. She took a deep breath. This was a bad idea, but she hoped she could sustain it for long enough. She activated her own semblance.

She deflected the shuriken, able to pick him out from his Grimm counterpart, but something seemed off. It was as if she could tell where the attacks were going to be like she knew where he was going, and it was more than just her instinct. A sudden pain slammed into her, not from his attack, but from abusing her power. She quickly grappled him.

He was caught off guard, and as he approached her quickly, she strong-armed him and placed her blade to his neck, her body throbbing in pain. She chuckled, though her breath was labored. Lykos shook his head and laughed as well. The arena erupted.

"I'm impressed," Lykos told her.

"You're not bad yourself," Neela replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NITE and CBLT have put on quite the spectacle for the school. Next week: Chapter 35 - Ozpin and Salem!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	39. Ozpin and Salem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ozpin has information for RWBY's ears only, but is it good news or bad? Then, Cobalt falls asleep in class, but what's his mind up to this time?

"It's complete," Ozpin said as he looked his cane over and placed it back into the chest, covering it with the tattered blanket that he normally used to shield him from the wind during the recent storms that had begun to plague the land. Time, he had found a way to harness time, and it was detrimental to ensuring that the human race survived. He stepped out of the hut, moving quickly toward the kingdom, but avoiding running as he didn't want to draw any unwanted attention to himself. The Brothers had been all-powerful, they had created everything, both good and evil, and when the people came to destroy them, The Wizard sealed their power away inside of a pair of enchanted stones. He'd made a mistake, however, deciding for once not to leave the passage of his power to fate.

He took on an apprentice, a young girl who had potential and seemed to have knowledge beyond her years, always thirsting to know more about The Brothers and everything that had come before. Ozpin was more than willing to teach her, to find someone so willing to learn magic felt refreshing. He hadn't met anyone with such desire since he had gifted the maidens their powers, but they seldom came by anymore, protecting the corners of the earth on their own. Would he need them now? Would the power he had reserved for so long be enough? How had he failed? It wasn't supposed to end like this.

The girl's thirst for knowledge soon became a hunger, and it was an unbearable pang of famish that Ozpin was unable to satiate or tame. She began doing whatever it took to acquire more and more power until Ozpin feared what action she might take next, and there was no doubt in his mind that it would be against him. He was the one who tried to "prevent" her growth. He was the one who was "holding her back". The discovery that he had made several days ago wasn't one that he could simply overlook, and he looked to snuff out the hatred in haste. He nodded to the knights that guarded the castle's entrance as he passed through the gate, trying to avoid looking rushed or flustered. Yet still, he needed to hurry.

He found the cottage that had been reserved for the work that he and his apprentice conducted, and he threw open the doors.

"Ozpin," came her silky smooth voice. She faced away from him, leaning far over one of the alchemy tables, examining something closely. "So you know what I've done then. You know that I took the stones."

"Salem," he said unimpressed, closing the door behind him. "I've forbidden even myself from using that power, but somehow you think you have surpassed your master exponentially? I am the one who created these stones. I have been around for hundreds upon hundreds of years. Even I would not be proficient with such power. What makes you think that you can control it?"

"Perhaps your centuries of life have made you deaf," She told him. "Could you not hear it? The Stone of Death spoke to me." It was as Ozpin had feared. He should have known that this would happen, it was as though The Brothers were finally punishing him for what he had done. They'd left him with no choice, they had planned on wiping out the entire human race and starting over from scratch. Here they were, trying to destroy everything once again, but Salem was their puppet this time. She turned around and he could see that her skin was pale, red veins climbing across her skin.

"What have you done?" Ozpin asked. Salem laughed quietly before making her way across the room to him.

"Just as I know that you've stolen part of the power from the Stone of Life, I've done the same with Death," She told him. "I did this to prove to you that I was strong enough! I wanted us to be together forever! We can bring balance to the world, just like The Brothers did!" Ozpin shook his head. She was never supposed to know or find out. He knew better. This wasn't an attempt to prove herself, she only desired raw power.

"We can still fix this," he told her. "I can go back, to before you gave up your life to this… darkness."

"Do I seem different?! I still want what we always desired! Peace! For everyone!" She exclaimed. She sounded sincere, but he knew that it was the power talking, trying to convince him otherwise.

"Not if it means drawing power from the stone," Ozpin told her. He opened the door behind him, just to be blasted through it with a flash of red power. He tumbled out into the grass, several soldiers noting what happened and rushing over to help, but they were thrown back as well.

"If we cannot come to an agreement, I will protect this world on my own," Salem stated. She blasted him back again, as he slid across the ground he disappeared, reappearing behind her and holding her in place with his own magic. "You know what my having this power means! I control The Four! If you kill me, they will return and have free reign!" She managed to break free, a stream of energy hitting him like a laser, throwing him through the back of the cottage. He crashed through the wall and came to a quick stop as he landed in the soft, wet mud of the garden. How did it get to this?

"I refuse to kill you, Salem," he told her. She sneered.

"Just like you refused to kill The Brothers! You're too soft!" She yelled. She blasted him again as he stood, planting him in the castle wall. Knights poured in from out of the castle itself and began to surround her, the king moving down the stairs and slowly approaching as his men moved to each side to let him through.

"What is the meaning of this, Wizard?" The king demanded.

"Stay back!" Ozpin yelled. Salem's twisted smile grew larger by the second, her skin becoming whiter and her eyes losing all humanity.

"You never thought that I would be equal to you in power!" She exclaimed. Ozpin moved to attack, but she deflected it, and it took out one of the archer's towers, the entire structure obliterated and collapsing away from them. "I'll show you how wrong you were." She lifted her hands slowly, the knights and king levitating off of the ground, frantically waving and flailing about.

"Salem!" He shouted desperately.

"I shall show you power, Ozpin! I will show you how to maintain peace!" She screamed. She clenched both of her hands into fists and threw her arms out, the men instantly disintegrating and their armor crashing to the ground all around them.

"No!" She turned back towards Ozpin, a jewel emerging from her forehead as she threw back her head and cackled.

"I declare this kingdom as my own. I will rule over this land and ensure its peace forever!" She exclaimed losing it again, laughing uncontrollably. "Are you scared, Ozpin? Are you scared that I equal you in power… or perhaps surpass you?" She looked over to where he was again and found that Ozpin was gone. She smirked. "You can't hide from me…"

"I don't plan to!" Ozpin shouted. He raised the staff with the Stone of Life attached above his head and slammed it against the ground, the earth slowly opening up. Tears ran down Ozpin's face as he struggled to keep Salem from moving. "I'm banishing you from this realm, Salem! You shall never return!" Slowly she was lowered in, struggling and screaming as he turned away. "And even if you try, I'll be ready."

* * *

"Then what?" Yang asked. "How did the journal even end up on Vytal in the first place?"

"Ozpin was the King of Vale that led the troops to victory against Mantle and Mistral, he must have left it on the island when he was negotiating the terms of the treaty," Glynda explained. "Does it go into any other detail about the Stones?"

"Not really," Ruby told them. "Just that by using both of them with Oz's staff would be able to bring back either Salem or Ozpin if they failed to inhabit a new host upon death."

"So we're not any closer to finding them?" Blake asked.

"Not really," Ruby told them.

"What did she mean by 'The Four?'" Yang asked. Qrow chuckled.

"I wouldn't worry about that, Oz always said that the legend of The Four wasn't real," Qrow offered. "Good to know that we've got plenty of time to find them though. They can't be used to bring back Salem without the cane. At least, I'd assume that's what the Neo-Salems are after."

"Shouldn't we be more worried though?" Blake asked. "If someone can tap into their power like Salem or Oz did, the results could be cataclysmic!"

"Was that a pun?!" Yang asked with a grin.

"No," Blake replied. Yang folded her arms.

"Sourpuss…" Yang muttered.

"Yang, this is serious! I'm worried about the future of our children!" Blake shouted. Yang sighed.

"As long as Ruby is around, nothing like that is going to happen," Yang reassured her. She grabbed Blake by the shoulders. "We'll stop this, just like we stopped Salem the first time." Blake nodded.

"Okay," she exhaled.

"I wonder why Ozpin didn't fix it then. Why didn't he just rewind time then and change the outcome?" Ruby asked.

"Ozpin was a wise man. Perhaps he only saw one outcome possible," Glynda suggested. "Does the council know?" Ruby shook her head.

"This information is being withheld from them at Ozpin's request," Ruby told them. "I wonder how he knew when to deliver the messages… they were prerecorded, weren't they?"

"Unless he came here to the future and saw what was going to happen," Yang offered. They all looked at her for a long moment. "What? It's a possibility."

"If that's all you have Ruby, I think we're all free to leave," Glynda told them standing up from her desk. Qrow watched the students out the window and smiled. "Feels like yesterday, doesn't it?" Qrow nodded.

"I wish it was," he said. He watched as his mind played with him, he envisioned Summer, Tai, Raven, and himself, all walking together to class and laughing at something stupid that Tai probably said.

"You'll be there on Saturday, right Qrow? Shadow's birthday party?" Blake asked. Qrow's mind flashed back to what he had told Raven at the inn. He smiled.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" He replied.

* * *

Cobalt stood on the edge of a bluff, watching the kingdom that stood far below amassing its armed forces to prepare for battle. The fact that the situation had gotten this far out of hand was hard to believe, but now that it was, Cobalt had been sent in to stop the uprising before it began. Southern Mistral. Some big shot who claimed that the kingdom should be split in two. He wasted no time. This was the cusp of a civil war, but the burning question on his mind now was where Neela Xiao Long has disappeared to. That was the real mystery.

Neela had been assigned to the region only a few months ago by the council, her mission was to infiltrate the rebel camp and take down their leader, a loud mouth instigator by the name of Fade. But she had broken off contact with them only a week after the beginning of her assignment, and the council began to assume the worst. They sent in Cobalt now, hoping that he would have better luck stopping Fade, but Cobalt had other things on his mind. His top priority was saving Neela. He peered at the camp far below that had been established outside of the newly built fort.

Though the man boasted being for and of the people, he sure contradicted himself with the lavish and extravagant fortress that they had built for him. Cobalt shook his head and leapt off of the cliff, allowing his armor to take the blow as he landed below in a thicket of jungle trees. He could attack. It was possible that he'd be able to make a large enough dent that they would be set back a couple of months, which would give the council more time to assess the situation, but he had been given the go-ahead to infiltrate. He was meant to be from a village close to the southern tip, one of their officials, here to offer aid and support. Then, he'd assassinate Fade. That was the plan, plain and simple.

He stepped out of the dense glade with his hands raised, several men pointing and training their weapons as they ran to him, keeping their distance.

"Who are you? State your business quickly, or I'll have no choice but to shoot!" The private shouted so hard that he shook. Cobalt shook his head. It was sad really, Fade was so elegant of a speaker that he had convinced these men that they were prepared to partake in a war, but Cobalt could clearly see that the man's safety was still on, and his nerves caused him to tremble. Maybe that was the catch. Maybe Fade's semblance was mind control related. The more that Cobalt thought about it, the more sense it made. He cleared his throat.

"I'm from the Southern Port. Your officers should be well aware of the fact that I was on my way to meet with Fade today. My name is Samuel Smoke," he told them. He cringed slightly at the words coming out of his mouth. That was the best name that the council could come up with for his cover? He placed it aside in his mind and continued. "If you'd only ask your commanding officer, he can look up the information and you'll see that I'm telling the truth. It's very important to me that Fade knows he can't count on our loyalty when this war against Sterling begins." The private nodded and yelled back for his commander.

There was a long several moments where the men held him there in utter silence, leaving him to wonder whether or not they had seen through his facade, or if it was legitimately taking that much time to confirm his arrival. Cobalt was beginning to worry about being attacked or ambushed and lightly brushed his weapon's handle with his fingertips. If it took them a few more minutes, he was going to start tearing the place apart. The commander returned, an awkward and sheepish look on his face as he motioned for the men to lower their weapons.

"I'm terribly sorry Smoke, it won't happen again!" The man reassured him as he led them through countless ranks of men, leading him into the fortress without an issue. "I've been told by Fade that we will accommodate you in any way possible or needed in order to secure your support. You can't begin to know how much it would mean to Fade to have unrestricted access to the Southern Port, it'll cut off a third of Sterling's imports and exports. The man needs to be brought down, and once we accomplish that, Lord Fade will be more than willing to give you command over one of the territories."

"I'm just glad that I'll finally get to meet the savior of Remnant," Cobalt told him.

"There must have been some kind of misunderstanding between our contacts," the commander explained to him as they entered into the elegant fortress, guards saluting as they passed by. Cobalt looked around, impressed with the extravagant banners and architecture, despite how quickly the building had been assembled. "He won't be able to meet with you today, but he will be back late tomorrow evening. In the meantime, we've been asked to provide you with a drawn bath, a hearty meal, and our finest living quarters today in order to ease your decision making tomorrow." Cobalt groaned internally. He was under the impression that this was going to be over quickly, he had been promised. He was going to have a long conversation with Ruby when this was all over.

"The bath has already been drawn. Please, let me direct you to the bathing house," the commander offered. Cobalt agreed, he knew that he had to play along at least until his meeting with Fade. The door was opened and Cobalt stepped in, instantly frozen in place by the sight before him. There were women with pitchers wearing nothing but simple white cloths, tied… or more or less draped… across their breasts and over their lower regions. He swallowed hard. On second thought, he would be thanking Ruby after this was all over. He removed his garments, moving into the pool and sitting along the ledge as the women poured the water over his head. He looked up at the ceiling and exhaled. He could get used to this.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Smoke?" One of the women asked. He chuckled slowly and deeply.

"Most certainly," he replied. They were pulling out all of the stops in order to try and convince him to give them port access. It really was a shame that he'd have to kill Fade, perhaps in another life, they could have gotten along… or the man could keep treating him like a god. Cobalt groaned slowly. It felt so good, and the women were nice to look at. No complaints at all. It was like he was on a paid vacation of sorts. Maybe there would be grapes soon?

"We want to keep you as comfortable as possible," Another one of the women told him. "If you'd like, Fade offers his most prized concubine for your usage." Cobalt thought it over. His body was heavy, the heat of the room had loosened him. They were throwing women at him now? As much as his mind toyed with the idea, he was a gentleman and would politely decline. "Perhaps you would care for a glimpse of the maiden before making a choice?" Cobalt shrugged and smirked. Nothing wrong about looking right? Okay, scratch that, it was still wrong, just less wrong. He might as well humor them, no need to make the woman feel unwanted after receiving constant attention. Maybe he was looking at it wrong, maybe she enjoyed being Fade's sex toy.

"Perhaps a peek," Cobalt agreed. The door opened behind him and warm water was splashed on his back again, he could hear the padding of feet as whoever had entered moved around the pool to enter across from him. He glanced over. Her shape was amazing, easy to make out through her sheer white dress, she almost looked like a goddess. Her dress slowly spread across the water as she waded in. He would be able to see everything. Another pitcher of water was dumped over him, and he brushed the water off of his face, getting a good look at the concubine's face. Cobalt sputtered, leaping to his feet and throwing his hands out.

"I'm so glad that you could join us today, Samuel," She spoke as she lowered herself further into the water. He couldn't form the words. He was all but paralyzed, but yet she continued into the water.

"Neela?!" Cobalt shouted. She smiled softly and disappeared into the water, swimming over to Cobalt and slowly standing in front of him. His mouth, his mind, everything forgot how to work at the appearance of her soaking wet body. Her breasts, as good as naked, just inches from his own chest.

"I don't think that we've ever met before, Lord Smoke," Neela spoke, she held her body against his and whispered in his ear. "Am I not to your satisfaction?"

* * *

"This isn't right!" Cobalt yelled as he jerked upright. Several of the other students laughed and Glynda stopped where she was in front of the chalkboard. They all watched him for a long moment and he waved at them, flushing and burying his head in his book.  _Why do I always have these weird-ass dreams at the worst times?_

"What isn't right, Mr. Thenard?" Glynda asked. He chuckled.

"Sorry, I must have dozed off," he apologized. He was up so late last night putting the finishing touches on the bracelet. "I think… I'm gonna clear my head and I'll be back in a few minutes." Glynda watched him irritatedly as he left the room. As he opened the door, Neela and Tawney ran directly into him. Cobalt fell back onto his ass and looked up at them dazed, his mind flashing back to the dream.

"Are you okay, Cobalt?" Neela asked. Cobalt blushed hard as he became aware of the situation.

"What's wrong with me?! I was so close! What was that sudden stroke of morality bullshit?! This is a fanfiction for Oum's sake! Why don't I get a lemon, huh?! Screw you!" Cobalt shouted out. Neela and Tawney exchanged glanced.

"What was he on about?" Asked Tawney.

"Maybe Ren can help him. You should go see the nurse," Neela said.

"That's not funny, author! And what's this nonsense?! These two getting along… or at least not competing?! And Neela just to spite me?! It couldn't have been Lykos and Titus?! Bullshit, utter bullshit!" Cobalt fumed. The door was thrown open again and slammed into Cobalt.

"Go have a breakdown elsewhere, Mr. Thenard!" Glynda demanded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now we know that the Neo-Salem movement has means of reviving her, but will RWBY be able to collect the pieces first? Next Week: Chapter 36 - Birthday Party!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	40. Birthday Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The youngest member of the Xiao Long family is turning 5! Shadow's party is underway and Team NITE stops in to attend and meet RWBY.

"Let me help you straighten your coat," Kali told Ghira as they waited for someone to come to the door.

"I can do it myself dear," Ghira told her. "Every time we come and visit I forget just how long that walk is from the coast to Blake's home." Kali brushed him off.

"I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, you and I both know that you're clothes are all disheveled from panicking on the airship ride over," Kali reminded him.

"I just don't care for heights!" Ghira exclaimed. The door was thrown open and Neela filled the door frame, slowly smiling as she realized who was in front of her.

"Mom! Grandma and Grandpa are here!" Neela called back into the house. She leapt out, throwing her arms around Ghira, embracing him tightly.

"Neela! You've gotten so big since the last time we saw you!" Ghira declared with a hearty laugh. "Blake told us that you were growing up, but we would never have guessed it was this fast! How are your studies going? Win any more awards for your archery recently?"

"And she's filling out too!" Kali announced. Neela blushed, hugging the woman. "A girl with curves like you has to be taken by now, right? Or at least getting all sorts of attention from all of the boys and girls. So, who is the lucky individual who's won your heart?"

"Neela, Blake was wondering if you could help out in the kitchen," Eliana told her stopping in the doorway. She glanced at the two Faunus in front of her, smiling. "Hey, Panther Gramps! Cougar Grams! I haven't seen you guys in ages!" Eliana shook Ghira's hand and Kali gave her a hug. She retreated back to the house. "You coming Neela?"

"In a minute!" Neela called after her. She sighed and looked back at Ghira and Kali who smirked at her. Neela started to blush. "No! No! No!"

"She's always been kind of cute, Neela," Kali told her.

"She has my approval," Ghira agreed. Neela groaned and went back into the house.

"Come on in," Neela told them, leaving them and heading to the kitchen. The Belladonnas entered in and closed the door behind them, finding the interior to be an utter madhouse. Lamar and Blaine each hung off of one of Titus's arms while Shadow sat giggling on top of his head.

"I'm so far up!" Shadow exclaimed. She gasped as she saw Ghira and Kali, reaching out for them. "Grandma! Grandpa!" Titus noted them and slowly approached, handing Shadow over to Ghira and slowly making his way back to the dining room, Blaine slipping off and tumbling to the ground. He leapt back to his feet and latched on again. Amelia watched as Titus trudged by and she folded her arms, huffing. She wanted to play with them, she just didn't want to do what they were doing.

"Let go of him, Blaine! I wanna do something else!" She shouted pouting.

"Like what?" Blaine called back, holding on for dear life.

"We can play pretend! I'll be the princess and you can be my knight!" Amelia told him. Coco and Velvet sat at the table laughing.

"Amelia is definitely your child," Coco told Weiss who was helping Blake in the kitchen with Ruby.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Weiss yelled. Violet covered her mouth and stifled a laugh.

"I think that she meant it in an endearing sort of way," Violet replied trying to ease Weiss's nerves. Velvet chuckled.

"No, she didn't," Velvet replied before leaning across the table to kiss Coco. Yang entered the house through the back door in the kitchen and propped herself against the fridge smiling.

"Did you get enough?" Blake asked. Yang nodded.

"I didn't have to chop down any more trees," Yang told her wife. "I'll check the stove later, but we should have enough firewood in there to last us until it starts to get dark anyway." Neela finally made her way into the kitchen and reached over Blake's shoulder, stealing a slice of cheese and eating it quickly.

"Neela Xiao Long! Get out of the food or I'll use Gambol Shroud's cleaver to take your hand off," Blake threatened her.

"I thought you wanted me to come in here and help," Neela told her.

"I did, but you took too long. Ilia offered to help instead," Blake informed her. Ilia smiled over her shoulder back at Neela.

"I didn't know that you knew how to cook," Neela stated.

"Oh, sure! I may have grown up without a mother, but I still learned a thing or two around the kitchen," Ilia said winking. She turned back to washing vegetables as Weiss mixed the cake batter beside her. Shadow ran through the kitchen and out the door as Lamar chased after her, followed moments later by the other two.

"Stay out of the kitchen and no running in the house!" Blake yelled. "And somebody close the door!" Blaine poked his head back in momentarily.

"Sorry!" He exclaimed. He slammed it shut, causing Blake to cringe and shake her head as Yang chuckled.

"At least he closed the door," Yang offered but Blake rolled her eyes. "Lighten up kitty cat!" Yang and Blake kissed and Neela made a fake gagging noise in response.

"Gross," Neela said with a smirk as she stole another slice of cheese.

"Neela!" Blake yelled. Neela laughed, Blake chasing her away. "Just because you're a hawk Faunus doesn't mean you need to eat like a bird!" Ghira came into the kitchen and followed suit. "Dad!"

"Sorry," he said quickly eating the cheese. "Ah, Weiss! Has young warrior Mattachanna paid you a visit in Atlas yet?" Weiss tilted her head thinking about it before she shook it in disagreement.

"No, I can't say that she has," Weiss replied. Ghira chuckled.

"Perhaps she finally is taking some time to sightsee and relax like I hoped she would," Ghira explained, though mostly addressing himself. Yang left Blake and joined Neela in the other room, sitting next to her on the couch.

"I saw that arena fight that you had last weekend," Yang told her. "You get stronger every day, don't you?" Neela shrugged it off and looked at her hands.

"Actually, something happened that I wanted to talk to you about," Neela told her. Yang nodded.

"Sure, anything," Yang replied.

"During my fight with Lykos, my semblance did something weird," Neela explained to Yang. "It was a little bit like I could see what would happen before it did." Yang chuckled and stretched.

"It's normal actually, but I wouldn't try to over do it too fast," Yang told her. "When I first met Blake, her clones could only take or give a single hit before they disappeared. It took her years of practice to be able to produce multiple clones that can actually interact with others. Same with Ruby. It wasn't until she trained for several years that she discovered she could turn into actual rose petals."

"Okay," Neela replied. "I was only curious." Neela leapt back up and smiled at Yang. "Thanks, mom!" Neela left to find Eliana and Yang stood to return to the kitchen.  _Is her semblance already evolving? You really are something else, aren't you Neela?_  Neela stepped outside and moved to the backyard, where the kids had invaded the treehouse, joined by Eliana who had decided to keep an eye on them. She watched the kids scramble around for a moment as she stood beside Eliana.

"Hey Neela, how's it going?" Eliana asked. Neela smiled.

"Great!" Neela replied. "Do you remember when we used to camp out in the treehouse?" Eliana chuckled and looked at it longingly, remembering the fun they used to have.

"Of course! Sometimes it almost seemed like you rather would have slept out here than inside the house," Eliana reminded her. Neela laughed and watched Shadow being chased by Lamar.

"I partially grew up in the woods, sometimes I did prefer sleeping out here," Neela told her. Shadow ran by again. "Hey Shadow, is Lamar your boyfriend?" Shadow stopped and Lamar ran right into her, they both tumbled to the ground and Lamar found his feet first, helping her up. Shadow looked flustered.

"No. Boyfriends and girlfriends kiss each other, and that's gross!" Shadow walked over to the girls and stood in front of them looking up at Neela. "Do you and Eliana kiss each other?" Neela blushed, unable to find the words to reply to her sister, but Eliana slowly knelt down and smiled at the small cat Faunus.

"We don't kiss, Shadow," Eliana told her. "Neela and I are just really good friends, just like you and Lamar." Shadow pulled Eliana closer, whispering in her ear.

"Don't tell Lamar, but I  _do_  want to kiss him," Shadow breathed loudly in her ear, giggling and running off to rejoin Lamar. Eliana stood back up and moved back to Neela whose normal color had mostly returned.

"That's my secret," Eliana spoke without context. Neela looked at her in a bout of confusion.

"What?" Neela asked.

"You were White Fang, Titus was hurt, and Ilia lost her mother," Eliana said. "Mine is that I've never kissed anyone." Neela stifled back laughter.

"Oh come on, Elli," Neela urged her. "That's what you're going with? What about your dad's death?" Eliana shrugged.

"That's been a part of me for so long I didn't even think about it," Eliana explained. She laughed. "It's true though you know, I've never been kissed." Neela turned away so Eliana couldn't see her turning red again.

"Is that an invitation?" Neela asked.  _What am I doing?! That's way too forward Neela!_ Eliana smiled at her.

"Of course not silly! We're like sisters!" Eliana told her. Neela's spirit crashed violently before Eliana grabbed her arm and drew her in, placing them inches from each other. Eliana gently brushed her braid. "Unless you're into that kind of thing." Neela's mind scrambled.  _We're not actually sisters though._  She placed her hands around Eliana's neck, ready to commit, though she was convinced that Eliana didn't think she'd actually follow through.

"Hey, Neela!" Blake called out from the house. "Uncle Qrow and Grandpa Tai are here!" Neela gritted her teeth as Eliana moved away.

"Come on! Let's go say hi!" Eliana exclaimed. As Eliana dragged her into the house they nearly ran into Pyrrha and Jaune who were on their way out to check on Blaine. Jaune stumbled into Pyrrha who caught him and waved at the girls as they ran by.

"Sorry!" Pyrrha called back. Jaune brushed himself off and stood up.

"I'm the one who should have apologized," Jaune told her. "I wasn't watching where I was going." They left the house, Pyrrha stopping and looking back at the cabin.

"Jaune, do you think we'll ever move to the country?" Pyrrha asked him. Jaune stopped and looked back at her, chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Maybe someday," he told her. "We have a nice house in the city though."

"I know," she agreed. "But look at how cute this cabin is." He smiled at her and continued for the treehouse. "It was just a thought." Back inside Neela and Eliana met up with Titus and Ilia.

"So, you guys enjoying yourselves?" Neela asked.

"It's a bit hectic," Titus told her.

"I'm having a lot of fun!" Ilia proclaimed. They shot her a look for a moment and she took a step back. "What? I never had birthday parties as a kid, okay? Plus your moms seem really great outside of the classroom." Yang walked by at that moment.

"Are you saying we're not great in the classroom?" Yang asked teasing her. "Guess I'll have to go a little harder on you next time we have one-on-one training." Weiss brushed by Yang as she left the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron and joining Team NITE.

"I don't think that I've been properly or formally introduced to the two of you, though I do recognize Mr. Prasinos here," Weiss told them. She turned to Ilia. "I'm Weiss Schnee, head of the SDC and Neela's aunt. Who might you be?"

"We all know who you are Ms. Schnee. My name is Ilia Cherny, and I'm guessing you already know that I am one of Neela's teammates," Ilia replied. Weiss nodded.

"Indeed, and how are you doing, Eliana?" Weiss inquired turning to her. "How are you enjoying the pistols?" Eliana's eyes lit up.

"I almost forgot that I needed to thank you for designing them!" Eliana inquired. Weiss gave another nod and Eliana squealed. "They're amazing! They look and function just like my father's! I don't know how I can ever thank you enough! There has to be something I can do!" Weiss chuckled.

"Neela has already done far more than enough already to pay them off, but if you still feel like you need to do more, I have an idea that will be able to benefit both of us," Weiss told her. Eliana's eyes lit up, looking at Weiss wide-eyed. "I have some ammunition with me today that was made for a weapon of your caliber. New rounds that have never been used before, our highest concentration of Dust in a bullet yet, only to be used with the intent to kill. I do need someone to test it out for me, and we decided that maybe you'd be the best choice." Eliana leapt up and down.

"Yes! I'd love to!" Eliana responded in a high pitch scream. "Thank you." Weiss laughed with the rest of the team.

"No Eliana, thank you," Weiss told her.

"Pardon me ma'am, but how do you know me and why did you choose me for Beacon?" Titus asked Weiss.

"I was impressed with what I saw when I sat in on your final assessment, and Winter and I both decided that it would be for the best if you got out and spread your wings a bit. Not everything is about strict rules and balance. Sometimes there will be chaos and uncertainty in life and the best way for you to experience before it got the better of you in the heat of battle was for you to be sent to Beacon as I was," Weiss informed him. "That semblance of yours is quite impressive. I can't wait to see it again once you've mastered it a bit more." He bowed slightly to her and she left them, the three girls looking at him.

"What?" He asked.

"What semblance?" Neela asked him. "We've all been a team now for a couple of months, and no one's seen your ability once. Is it passive or something like that?" Titus chuckled as he stepped away.

"You could say that," he told her. Several clones of Blake passed by and the girls watched them for a long moment before they were approached by one.

"Dinner will be ready in about five minutes," she told them. "Have the three of you seen Tai and Qrow?" Neela pointed to the front door.

"Eliana and I went out to greet them earlier, and then they got into an argument per usual," Neela explained. Blake shook her head and sighed.

"Alright. Thank you Neela," Blake replied before disappearing in a cloud of red Dust.

"Of course."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, but I promise that next week won't disappoint! Next week, Qrow and Tai catch up with the Xiao Longs in Chapter 37 - Family Reunion!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	41. Family Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tai, Qrow, Ruby, and Weiss stay late to visit the Xiao Longs, but how hectic will things get with all of them in the same room together?

"You two don't think you'd be able to stay any longer tonight?" Neela asked Ilia and Titus as they stood outside the door.

"I wish we could, but I think that both of us have a lot of homework that we need to get finished before Monday. Tell Blake that dinner was delicious. It was… fun," Titus told her. Ilia pulled on his arm.

"Save all this emotional crap for later. If we don't leave soon, we're never going to make it to Signal in time to catch the last airship," Ilia urged him away. He chuckled and followed after her, Neela watching them for a long moment as she stared out at the amazing colors that were thrown about by the sunset. Oranges, reds, purples, stretched across the horizon as far as the eye could see. It had been a good day. Everyone was gone now with the exception of the Rose family, Tai, Qrow, and Eliana. Neela stepped back into the house to enjoy snacks and games.

"So right now it looks like our best bet is to either play charades, or Remnant: The Game if we break up into teams that is," Yang told them. "Anyone prefer one way or the other?"

"Charades," Tai suggested. "That game is always better with Qrow around." Qrow chuckled.

"Better watch out Tai, you know I always beat you at it," Qrow reminded him.

"Summer's not here to help you out this time," Tai stated. "Besides, if I lost getting to watch you flail about like an idiot, it's usually worth it." Qrow set down his flask.

"You're on then!" Qrow exclaimed.

"Oh boy," Ruby sighed. "Tell me that there is some kind of follow up to this, like the story about Qrow in the dress." Qrow gritted his teeth as Tai laughed.

"If only you kids knew half of the things he did!" Tai exclaimed. Qrow chuckled.

"I recall you being pretty wild as well," Qrow retorted. Tai folded his arms.

"Qrow, we agreed not to talk about those things in front of the kids," Tai reminded him.

"First off, they've got their own kids now, I think they're old enough to hear these things. Second, you don't like the taste of your own medicine?" Qrow asked.

"Alright you two, that's enough," Blake interjected. Qrow folded his arms as well. "We're all going to get along and have fun, is that clear?"

"Yes," Tai replied.

"Whatever," Qrow mumbled back. Shadow came running out of the hallway with Amelia and stood in the middle of the living room.

"Shadow, what is it?" Blake asked.

"I can't sleep. Can you read me a bedtime story?" Shadow asked. "The one about you and mommy taking down the bull!?" Blake chuckled as she stood and walked to Shadow, picking her up and carrying her back into the room.

"This is the last one tonight," Blake told her.

"Ok! Tell us about the part where you saved Sissy too!" Shadow exclaimed. Blake laughed softly.

"Of course. That's my favorite part of the story," Blake replied. Neela glanced across the room and the picture frames on one of the window sills, a portrait of the family having a picnic outside of the house, one of her favorites. This was her family. Her mothers that had raised her, rescuing her from a life of fear and hate. Her little sister, who meant the world to her, excited for the day that Shadow would be old enough that she could train the young girl. Neela sighed and smiled as she thought about it.

"Neela, can you pass me the cheese platter?" Eliana asked snapping her out of it. Neela noted it on the end table to her right and handed it over. "Thank you!"

"Just seeing all of Team NITE here today brought back so many old memories," Weiss said. Ruby nodded, as did Yang.

"Yeah, if it was us at a party like this, somebody would have started a food fight," Ruby exclaimed. Qrow chuckled.

"That's nothing! Tai and I faced off in a food war once!" Qrow exclaimed. Tai cracked a smile.

"We each had an entire army, Raven sided with me and Summer with Qrow. It lasted for at least three days seeing as Glynda and Ozpin were out of town. Qrow and I finally faced off in a final battle that involved seeing who could eat the most wasabi without crying!" Tai exclaimed. "We ended up working off the cost of all of the food that was wasted by working that summer on the school grounds on various projects."

"Who won the war?" Neela asked.

"Tai and I both refused to give and both passed out from the heat of that Oum awful stuff," Qrow explained. "Raven and Summer forged a treaty on top of our unconscious bodies." He took a sip from his flask.

"Raven used to be alright, huh?" Neela asked. Most of them glanced at Yang who looked away, Qrow's eyes meeting Neela's instead.

"Yeah, I guess she used to be," Qrow replied. "I'm not sure what happened to her that caused everything to change so drastically, but she's not the woman she used to be. Now she's more worried about survival than most things."

"Probably more than anything," Yang added. Qrow froze for a moment before looking at her.

"Hard to say," he replied.

"Or what about that time Raven helped us deliver all those chocolates on Valentine's Day, and when we told everyone that they were from her, she just went with it," Tai remembered. "Sure, it was Summer's idea, but Qrow and I were so terrified that Raven would beat her to a pulp that we agreed to take the blame."

"I think that had more to do with not wanting to upset Summer," Qrow stated. "Summer always brought out the best in people-" He froze, he noted the rage building in Yang's eyes.

"It was probably just mom all along," Yang stated. Ruby stood up and cleared her throat.

"We should start charades, right?" Ruby asked.

"This is going to end about as well as the after party for the dance," Weiss said laughing.

"When Blake tried to act out riding a horse?" Ruby asked laughing.

"I thought she did a great job," Yang interjected.

"You must have," Weiss stated burying her head in her hands. "You started drooling and flushing." Yang flushed again.

"Heh. It was pretty hot," Yang defended.

"I heard that!" Blake yelled quietly from the other room. Team RWBY burst out into laughter.

"So, how is school going for you two?" Weiss asked. "Anyone catch your eye, Eliana?" Neela looked away and shook her head.  _Why Aunt Weiss?!_

"Not yet, but they'll probably have to fight off Neela, we're inseparable!" Eliana declared. Neela laughed nervously.

"Yep, that we are," she agreed plainly.

"Thinking of working at the SDC over the winter break this year, Neela?" Weiss asked. "Ammo isn't the cheapest in Vale right now, and I know how adamant you are about me  _not_  helping you out too much for free." Neela laughed.

"Actually, I'm looking at getting a job at a small bookstore in Vale's shopping district this quarter, the owner is an old teammate of Coco's, so she's going to put in a good word. If I can save up enough before winter break, I'll be able to enjoy the time off this year," Neela told her.

"Good idea!" Ruby exclaimed. Eliana's eyes lit up as she remembered something and she bounced in her seat.

"Tell us about the battle with Salem!" Eliana shouted out loudly, forgetting about the children trying to sleep in the other room. Neela shoved her and she laughed. "What?"

"You ask Blake and Yang to tell this story every year!" Neela exclaimed.

"It's my favorite story!" Eliana reminded Neela. "Plus maybe Ruby and Weiss have something to add to it."

"So there we were, we had just defeated the dragon, Weiss had dealt the killing blow…" Ruby told them as she talked largely with her hands and pranced about the room.

"We all defeated it together Ruby," Weiss told her. "Besides, you know that we killed that thing in Beacon."

"Shush!" Ruby demanded. "It's more epic this way." Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Of course," Weiss sighed.

"Anyways, there we were, all of us. Team RWBY, Team JNPR, all of the other teams that had ever fought with us! As we crossed over the bridge into Salem's realm, it was destroyed behind us! We were separated, leaving us four alone to defeat Salem. Salem was stronger than we ever could have imagined, it was almost as if she was controlling us herself during the battle, but through a combined and epic attack from all four of us, we took her down once and for all!" Ruby exclaimed. "Afterwards the bridge reformed and we were able to leave and banished any more travel to and from Her realm, but it wouldn't matter soon after because the bridge was destroyed once more with no means of being fixed."

"Satisfied?" Neela asked.

"Yes," Eliana replied nodding happily. "I just hope that our last battle as a team is that epic." Neela mussed her hair up.

"You wish!" Neela declared. Eliana pushed her off as Blake entered. She leapt to her feet and grabbed her glass up.

"I'm going to go get a refill," Eliana told them. "Anyone need anything?" They all shook their heads and declined. "Neela?"

"I still have some soda left, so I'm fine, but thanks Elli," Neela told her. Eliana left, and Neela watched her for a little longer than she should have perhaps, subconsciously focusing on her butt. It was unfair that the girl had such a nice ass, to be honest… and rack...

"You sure you don't need a drink Neela?" Yang asked.

"Mom!" Neela exclaimed. The adults all chuckled.

"You just looked at her like a Beowolf looks at its prey," Qrow stated.

"You're going to tell her soon, right?" Blake asked.

"I…" Neela stammered. "It's not that simple." Ruby rubbed the top of her head.

"At least you have a step up on Weiss and I. When we first met, Weiss hated everything about me. She couldn't even stand the sight of me," Ruby told her.

"Really?" Neela asked.

"Really," Weiss replied dryly.

"I didn't have the nerve to tell her how I felt until after we met back up in Mistral," Ruby explained. "But I was afraid that something might happen, and it was enough of a push for me to confess." Ruby sat next to Neela. "And she didn't say yes at first even. She was too surprised at that point to even know how she truly felt about us."

"It may take a couple of tries, but don't despair if she doesn't agree right away," Weiss reassured her. "If she cares for you as much as you do her, it's only a matter of time."

* * *

"Soda or water? Decisions, decisions… Oh, what's this?" Eliana asked opening a bottle of something unlabeled and smelling it. She coughed and put it back in, screwing the lid back on. "Alcohol… That is definitely alcohol. I could pour myself some milk, but it does look like the bottom of the jug, and I don't need Blake and Shadow on my case about it. Alright alright, soda it is, but what kind of soda? Did Yang really have to buy so many different kinds of soda? I don't know what kind I want!" There was a knock on the door beside the fridge and Eliana stood up quickly, hitting her head on the freezer door above.  _Awfully late for visitors. Guess I'll answer it anyway._  "I got it!"

"Got what?" Yang asked as she stood up and looked into the kitchen.

"Hello?" Eliana asked opening the door. Neela leapt up and headed for the kitchen as Eliana dropped her glass, it shattered on the floor. She slowly moved back into the house, her body trembling as she tried to find her voice.  _That mask… this is someone with the White Fang, do something, Eliana! This is why you've trained so hard! At the very least let everyone in the house know!_  "Whi- F- Fang- Neela!" Neela quickly moved to the kitchen, hearing someone thundering through the house behind her, sliding out of the way in time to miss her mother who was sprinting for the door, and grappling Eliana, using her hook to pull her from the door. She'd rub it in Eliana's face later for picking on her for choosing to wear it.

"What do you think you're doing here, you bitch!?" Yang screamed. The blade of a sword crashed off of both of her gauntlets and she landed a hit, the intruder slamming through the woods nearly two hundred feet, taking out countless trees with her, cratering into the ground upon impact. The sounds flooded the house and Tai leapt to his feet, taking off out the door and freezing in the yard as Qrow followed him out slowly, opening his flask. He took a swig as Tai watched him in disbelief, Yang blasting herself into the woods.

"Well shit," Qrow replied.

"That's all you have to say?" Tai asked.

"I'm not about to get in the middle of this," Qrow informed him. "And besides, I'd side with Yang. We might as well give Raven a chance."

"You're not worried about Yang?" Tai asked. Qrow could hear Yang yelling again and heard another cracking blow followed by more trees crashing against the ground. He shook his head.

"Not in the slightest," Qrow told him.

Yang sauntered over to where Raven had landed, pulling her fists back again and her eyes were terrifyingly red.

"If you don't answer me soon Raven, I'll put a hole through your chest," Yang told her. "The choice is yours."

"Is that any way to talk to your mother?" Raven asked. Yang slammed her fist through where Raven had been, Raven teleported into her interdimension. "And besides, even if I tell you, you'll still try and kill me." Yang chuckled, slowly circling the spot. "What's say you calm down and we can talk about this like civilized adults?" Yang laughed manically.

"That might have been an option if you would have gotten here fifteen or so years ago," Yang told her. "Unless you're leaving, there's only one way that this ends." Raven appeared behind Yang, swinging but not quickly enough to inflict any damage. Yang smirked as Raven's katana crashed repeatedly off of Ember Celica. "If you want to talk, why are you attacking me?" Raven grunted, pushing Yang back before Yang landed another blow, jerking Raven back.

"I'm defending myself," Raven told her gritting her teeth.

"You don't have to defend yourself if you leave!" Yang yelled at her. Raven coated her blade in ice, swinging at the air as she leapt back into the trees. Yang blasting away at it. She ran back, leaping up and planting her feet against a tree, launching herself into the air by firing behind her. She landed on the same limb as Raven, they exchanged glances and Raven moved back, slicing through the branch and watching Yang tumble across the ground. Yang cocked her fists back, blasting through the trees at Raven. Raven switched her blade to earth Dust, leaping into the air further yet and sending a wave of Dust at Yang. She dove and rolled out of the way, looking back up for Raven, but she had disappeared.

"Is it over?" Tai called out. Qrow took off across the yard, taking his bird form and flying through the trees, darting above the canopy and pecking at Raven. She turned back to human, swinging at him and knocking him away, the distraction allowing Yang to land a blow, sending Raven deeper into the woods. Raven tumbled across the earth, groaning as she moved to her hands and knees, tossing her mask away.  _That damn brat… and Qrow's against me too?! I don't need him, I'll murder him later._  Raven braced her katana with her free hand, deflecting rounds from Yang's weapons. Yang continued to approach her.

"I need to tell you something important Yang, would you give me a moment!?" Raven yelled at her.

"As long as you can talk and die at the same time, go ahead," Yang told her. Raven threw herself into a portal.

"The White Fang have returned…" Raven told her reappearing, but Yang's fists glanced off of Raven's sword, thundering off to Yang's surprise.  _How didn't that destroy her weapon?_!

"We're already aware of that," Yang told her. "Is there anything that you want to tell me that I don't already know?"

"Who do you think stole Wilt and Blush?" Raven asked. The mention of it caused Yang to falter for a moment and Raven knocked her back, resulting in Yang crashing through a tree and landing on her back.  _How does she know about that? No, it was on the news, it was common knowledge._ "Your wife had to have mentioned Athena at least once, right?" Yang's eyes widened and she searched the night sky above before rolling out of the way of an attack.  _Adam's crazy ass sister? The one that they kept locked up in a cage?!_   _But they found the cage empty during the attack, what were the odds that she escaped during the army's onslaught?_  "So you have heard the name, your face says it all."

"You've said your peace," Yang stated. She leaped to her feet, dodging Raven's swipes and directing her blows now, but her eyes were no longer red. "Now leave."

"I can help protect you," Raven told her.

"What proof do you have that…" Yang froze, cocking back her fist, her eyes becoming red again and knocking Raven's katana out of her hands. "I know what this is! I was right! Qrow confirmed it while denying it before." Raven became confused at the sudden change, taking a blow to the jaw which launched her back towards the house.

"Eliana!" Neela yelled. Eliana nodded and threw up a forcefield to keep Raven from crashing through one of the walls.

"Wha…" Raven was dazed, but the hatred could be seen pouring off of Yang as she reloaded.

"I told Qrow that you're only doing this because it benefits you in some way, and you want to 'help protect' us. Why!? You don't know me! You've never met my wife, you didn't come to my wedding, you didn't show up when we had our adoption party for Neela, you didn't visit to meet your biological granddaughter at the hospital or any time after that! You expect me to believe that out of the blue your conscious became clouded! Qrow!" Yang thundered. Everyone with the exception of Neela, Eliana, Tai, and Qrow stood watching from the kitchen. Qrow landed behind Yang and transformed back. "Was her clan wiped out!? Is that why she's here?!"

"There is  _some_  merit to what she says Yang…" Qrow began, Raven staring past Yang at him with contemptuous eyes. "But yes. I already told you last time, her clan is gone."

"You bastard!" Raven shouted. Yang moved to Raven in a blink, planting three solid uppercuts in Raven's gut, the last breaking her aura and she spit up blood.

"Yang!" Tai yelled at her. She spun to look at him, tears running down her face.

"I lost an arm! Did she stop in and try to comfort me?! I helped take down Salem and most of the White Fang and she couldn't even stop by to say how proud she was?! I've become one of the most renown teachers at one of the most respected schools in all of Remnant and she couldn't even be bothered to send a letter congratulating me?! And lastly, she finally decides to show up on the night of her granddaughter's FIFTH birthday party, but had no intention of acknowledging her or wishing her a happy birthday?!" Yang vented, her shouts shaking the cabin. "I will not let this low life live in my house!" Yang's chest heaved as the tears continued to fall.

"I am your mother, is that not-" Raven was interrupted by Yang slapping her across the face. Raven looked at Yang in shock again, her eyes frantically searching her daughter's for any compassion that might remain for her mother, but there was nothing but hate. Yang's face became dark as she looked away. Raven knew those eyes, she often saw the same eyes when she looked in the mirror.

"You are not my mother!" Yang told her. "My mother was Summer Rose! Summer baked us cookies! Summer took care of Ruby and me, she taught me to look out for my little sister! You are nothing to me!" Yang brushed her hair out of her face and began walking away, Raven still leaning against the force field out of strength. She grunted, standing on her own and shaking her head slowly.

"Summer?" Raven spoke softly. Yang stopped and all eyes fell on them. There was a still and uncomfortable silence. "Heh. She was weak. You'd allow someone so pathetic to be your mother?" Yang's body ignited, the resulting sudden explosion threw Neela and Eliana off of their feet, destroying Eliana's force field in the process. Tai stumbled, trying to move quickly and grab Yang, but it was too late, Yang was not going to be stopped, and Raven would be on the receiving end of the lethal blow.

"Die!" Yang screamed. Her fist made contact, the sound produced was a loud crack and everyone gasped, Yang coming off of her rage induced high as she breathed heavily. Tai ran out and grabbed Yang, Blake shoving out past the crowd as well and pulling Yang back. Yang's mind came to and she realized what had happened. Qrow smirked as he hit his knees, Raven wide-eyed behind him as he glanced back at her. He scoffed.

"Uncle Qrow!" Neela yelled as she ran to him with Eliana. They helped him to the ground so that he could lay down.

"She only cracked a rib, I'll be fine after a while," he reassured them.

"Qrow, I didn't-" Yang stuttered. She hit her knees. "Why did you do that Uncle Qrow?" He coughed.

"I guess blood runs deep," he told her. Ruby and Weiss came out next, helping Qrow in while Blake showed Yang back to the living room. Neela and Eliana stared at Raven for a long moment, Neela shaking her head and they shut the door behind them as they left Tai with Raven.

"Well you did a bang-up job," Raven told Tai. Tai kicked her in the side, just hard enough to cause her pain and force her to double over.

"For a moment there, I thought that maybe I could give you advice. I thought that maybe I could tell you what you did wrong and how you could fix it. What a fool I was, just like when I fell for you back at the academy," Tai said as he sat on the ground across from her.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Raven gasped.

"If you truly think that Summer was weak, then there is more wrong with you than I could have ever imagined," Tai explained.

"She's dead, isn't she? We all knew that the mission Ozpin assigned to us was suicidal, and she was the only one foolish enough to agree to it," Raven reminded him. Tai stood up, stretching and walking for the door.

"Is that what you consider weakness?" Tai asked. He clenched his fists. "I know exactly how Yang feels right now. You can't even see past your own ignorance, can you? Because you only look out for yourself, I guess it's probably too much to ask for you to see it from someone else's point of view. Summer was stronger than the three of us combined, yet you have the audacity to call her weak. I guess, if my mind was as skewed as yours, I'd be dead set in that belief too." Raven gritted her teeth and seethed as she stood.

"Did you not hear me? She's dead! How does that not equate to weakness?!" Raven asked.

"She did what she needed to for the people that she loved to survive!" Tai shouted. "That's a strength greater than any you'll ever know!" He opened the door. "Unless you can find a way to fix yourself first, I don't recommend coming back here. Qrow won't be here next time and if he is, I can guarantee he won't save you." Tai gritted his teeth. "I won't let him." Tai closed the door behind him, leaving Raven in the dark alone. Rage filled her to the brim until it boiled over.  _I don't need any of you!_

* * *

"Mommy, what's going on!?" Shadow yelled as she ran from the hall and leapt into Yang's arms as she cried on the couch. "Who were you yelling at, why are you crying?" Yang wiped her eyes and shook her head. Weiss left the room in a rush to make sure Amelia was okay.

"Hey little kitty," Yang said with a smile, holding Shadow close. "Mommy's fine now, okay? Someone outside made mommy mad, but I'm okay now." She pulled Shadow back and her mind flashed Raven's image over Shadow. She bit her lips in order to hold back the tears. "I love you Shadow, you know that right?" Shadow nodded and clung to Yang's neck.

"Of course! You keep me safe, and play with me, and make me happy! You love me a lot mommy!" Blake watched Yang, holding back her own tears as Yang calmed down.

"Yes, kitty cat! And I always will!" Yang exclaimed as she waved Blake over and handed off Shadow. "Good night, Shadow! I love you!" Shadow blew her a kiss.

"I love you more, Mommy Yang!" Shadow giggled. Yang sat in silence for a moment, glancing at everyone around her who also remained quiet in the still of the moment.

"Is Qrow okay?" She asked. Ruby nodded.

"Dad's going to leave with him tonight for Signal and get medical attention there," Ruby told her. "He's not mad, he understands why you did it."

"I shouldn't have taken it that far," Yang said deep in thought. She glanced over at Neela and Eliana.

"So that was Grandma Raven, huh?" Neela asked.

"You can just call her Raven, but yes," Yang told Neela. Yang sighed and looked around the room at everyone again. "I think I'm going to head to bed. I'm sorry everyone." She left without saying another word and the room sustained another long pause.

"I guess I would have done the same," Eliana said. "If my dad had left before I even knew him and then came back and acted like he'd never hurt me." Neela nodded.

"Yeah," Neela agreed. "What else was said? When they were out in the woods? I have enhanced hearing, but even I wasn't able to pick up on the exchange…"

"The White Fang," Blake said entering the room. Neela shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Yang told me that Raven said the White Fang are coming after us." Neela leapt to her feet, her hand reaching for her sword and then reaching for where her bow was normally hanging over her, but it wasn't there.

"What?!" Neela asked her again.

"That's all she said before she left for the bedroom," Blake said as she stared off into space. She glanced back at Neela who was struggling to keep from having an anxiety attack.

"No… No! Why are they still around?! And why are they coming after us?!" Neela shouted. Eliana tried to grab her hand but Neela snatched it away.

"You'll be fine at the school, Neela, the White Fang would be suicidal to try and get at us there, and besides," Blake reassured her. "I'm sure that they're only after Yang and me for killing Adam."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things didn't go well between Raven and Yang, but now that the family knows that the White Fang are after them, what will they do? Next Week, Chapter 38 - CBLT vs. Bumbleby!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	42. CBLT vs. Bumbleby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The students are sent out to find teachers that will train them in the field for the year, but is CBLT really lucky enough to end up with Blake?

"Wait, your grandmother that you've never met before showed up last night after we left and did battle with your mom? Is that what you're telling me?" Titus asked. "I mean, obviously crazier things have happened, but that's crazy enough itself. How are you taking it?"

"I'm a little pissed off for mom," Neela told Titus. "She had a point last night. Why, out of the blue, would Raven show up unless she needed something? She wanted to warn us about the White Fang? She could have just told Qrow, so I'm not really buying her story either." Eliana pushed them both forward so that they would continue walking down the path towards Emerald Forest.

"You're mom kicked some major ass last night. If Qrow hadn't stepped in the way, Raven easily would have died. It was awesome!" Eliana exclaimed. "I don't think I've ever seen your mom fight that hard." Eliana looked at Neela who seemed distracted. "Are you okay Neela? I mean, with the news of the White Fang being back and all."

"Of course! I'm tough, the White Fang have nothing on us!" Neela exclaimed. Her mind flashed back to the night that her parents were killed and she shook it off. They had found the mask in the woods on the first night of the school year. Neela assumed that they had missed it when they repaired and cleaned up after the Fall of Beacon, but it became clear that it had been left there more recently. She should have told someone about it, but she brushed it off like the pain she was brushing off now. There were some things that she needed to take care of on her own. "Right guys?"

"Yep. Nothing on us. Go team," Ilia replied dryly, her attention undivided on her scroll.

"Someone's making progress with overcoming their past, eh?" Titus asked. Ilia smirked and glanced across at him.

"I'm just texting him, that's all," Ilia told him.

"When are we going to meet this guy anyway?" Eliana asked.

"His name is Vincent Citrine and we are seriously just at the talking stage right now," Ilia repeated.

"Citrine? As in Citrine Weapons? They make some of the best quality weapons and ammunition around!" Cobalt exclaimed.

"Yes, one in the same… and would you back the hell up?!" Ilia shouted. Cobalt threw his hands up and waited for his teammates.

"Well?" Tawney asked. Cobalt glanced over his shoulder to make sure Lykos and Bái weren't listening.

"She's got a new guy! Name's Vincent!" Lykos yelled out. Cobalt looked back at him.

"Am I the last one to know?" Cobalt asked. Bái shrugged.

"Probably," she told him. They approached the cliff and they looked down into the forest, only Glynda waited for them.

"What are we doing today Teach?" Cobalt asked.

"Don't call me that," Glynda told him with a glare.

"Yes, Headmistress. Sorry, Headmistress," Cobalt replied. Neela stood on one of the launchpads and looked out into the woods. This was where it had all began. This is where they had all been set on their path together. It was absurd to think that it had only happened a few months ago. So many things had transpired since then, and they were only just getting started.

"In the past, we've allowed the students to choose the teacher that they'll be paired with when they begin field missions and other various assignments away from the school. However, this year we've decided on something slightly different. Much like initiation, you will be flung out into the forest as a team and the first teacher that you lay eyes on will be your mentor for the year. You will be graded on how well you fight and if you are able to defeat the teacher you will be allowed to choose a new one if you'd like," Glynda explained.

"Wait, you're saying that we're fighting a teacher when we land?" Titus asked for clarification.

"Don't think you're up to the task?" Glynda asked. "It's not about winning, it's about showing us how far you've come. That's what you'll be graded on. Ready?"

"I'm never ready for this part," Eliana cringed.

"On the count of three," Glynda told them. "One…"

"Why not use the same strategy as last time?" Neela asked.

"... Two…"

"It's not so much landing as it is crashing!" Eliana shouted.

"Three."

* * *

"Who do you hope that we end up with for our teacher?" Bái asked Lykos as they made their way through the dense woods looking for Cobalt and Tawney. Lykos pulled his pelt closer to his body, he was taken aback at the fact that they would do such a thing in such unforgiving temperatures, but he supposed he had lived through worse, and he could see that they were more than likely trying to acclimate them to conditions that weren't always in their favor. What if they had a mission in Atlas and they had no choice but to fight the Grimm or assailant outdoors? The reasoning sank in until he accepted it. He glanced at Bái.

She didn't seem affected whatsoever. Her teeth weren't chattering, she wasn't rubbing her arms for warmth. She was thriving, this was her element after all, in a matter of speaking. He feared the idea of what she could possibly do on a frozen lake in the middle of a blizzard without the bracelet on. Okay, they were specific requirements, and it never snowed that hard in Vale, but he still wondered what it would be like. He smirked at her and she beamed back with a smile that sat from ear to ear.

"If given an actual choice, I think I would have chosen Jaune or Yang, but since they're already assigned to teams with Upper Classmen, our options appear to be Mrs. Adel, Ms. Xiao Long, or Mrs. Arc. Between those three it's hard to say," Lykos told her.

"One word, Bellabooty," Cobalt said as he joined them from the bushes.

"Two words," Tawney said joining them shortly after and nailing him in the gut. He doubled over and hacked. "Shut up." Cobalt chuckled.

"Don't lie, you want to get your hands on it too," Cobalt informed her. A gunshot rang out and Cobalt was thrown back into the dense tree line, bouncing across the ground before finally slamming into a tree large enough to stop him. Lykos and Bái glanced back to make sure that he was okay before looking back up and noting Yang cocking her fist back again.

"I'm guessing they didn't tell you that the teachers were going to have assistants," Yang jested. "Oh, and only I get to touch the Bellabooty." Blake ran past her and swiped at Tawney, exploding into a cloud of gravity Dust and throwing Tawney onto her back.

"Yang, save the jokes for later," Blake told her. Yang nodded and charged in, her fists slamming off of Bái's shield as Lykos slid back and readied his whip. As Bái occupied Yang, Lykos moved quickly to attack, his whip inches from wrapping around Yang's arm when Gambol Shroud's cleaver was thrust into the way and Blake allowed herself to be pulled in. Lykos and Blake exchanged blows as a clone blindsided Lykos, batting him away. He slid past Cobalt, wrapping his whip around a smaller tree to stop himself.

"What's the plan?" Lykos asked Cobalt.

"Not saying Bellabooty?" Cobalt suggested shrugging.

"Cobalt!" Lykos snarled.

"I'm working on it!" Cobalt offered. Blake slid through the middle of them, firing at Lykos who dove out of the way and knocking Cobalt's sword out of his hand. He looked up at it for a moment before glancing back at her and taking off, but one of her clones now held his weapon. "Isn't this supposed to be a learning experience?" The real Blake chuckled, looking his sword over as the other disappeared.

"This is. You're learning today that sometimes you'll face enemies much more powerful than you are," Blake told him. "No way out. What do you do?"

"Do we surrender?" Cobalt pondered out loud. Lykos flew by, lashing out with his whip and disappearing, a Beowulf appearing behind Blake and letting out a roar. She laughed as she slid back towards it, assuming that he was trying to sneak up on her from the front but was quickly proven wrong when a boot slammed into her back and his whip wrenched away Cobalt's blade. Lykos greeted Blake's cleaver with Cobalt's blade, scattering his projectiles and forcing Blake to retreat towards Yang. He tossed Cobalt his sword as the shuriken returned.

"This is for a grade," Lykos reminded him gritting his teeth. "Don't surrender." He charged in and Cobalt shook his head. Of course, what was he thinking? He couldn't give up so easily!  _Distinguish clones from the real Blake._

_*FILTER CONFIRMED*_

Shards of ice scattered with each blow from Yang, ejecting from Bái in a flurry, pelting Yang before returning. Yang stumbled back, greeted by Tawney who slammed her tonfas into Yang's jaw. Yang reeled for a step or two, swinging her body back around, a Dust charged shot hurling towards Tawney before being stopped by an ice wall. Yang smirked as she charged and slashed through the wall, Tawney and her exchanging blows.  _They excel at teamwork for sure. Is it a product of watching out for Bái?_

"Bái!" Lykos shouted. Bái turned too late, unable to block a slash from Blake, taking part of her aura. Bái slid back as an ice trail formed behind her, giving herself plenty of distance. Blake pushed on, keeping the girl from being able to reestablish her defense.

"Bái!" Cobalt yelled out as his sword formed and charged up. He fired, the laser deflecting off of Bái's shield and blasted through Blake, her body becoming stone. "Lykos, scatter!" The shuriken flew from him in multiple directions, tearing through the trees, Lykos glancing up above them, noting that his weapons had been misdirected in an awkward manner.

"There!" Lykos shouted. Bái raised a pillar beneath him and he leapt into the canopy, chasing after Blake and leaving Cobalt a moment to strategize how to progress from there. He split himself into two, sprinting in opposite directions. His doppelganger threw his weapon into the air, removing the limb that Blake was retreating across, forcing her to turn and face Lykos, who she became tangled up with. They fought hand to hand as the two tried to separate their weapons, Cobalt lining up his second shot. He fired to the side of Lykos, throwing them both to the ground, but Blake was thrown back by an arctic blast as she found her feet, ice pikes glazing her, a few catching her clothes and pinning her to a large tree.

"Yang!" Blake called out. "Now would be a good time to give me a hand!"

Yang chuckled as her fists glanced off of Tawney's tonfas.

"You may want to rephrase that!" Yang called out. Tawney slipped in through Yang's defending and cracked her in the jaw, Yang's eyes flickered as she gave Tawney a crooked smile. Yang let her guard drop, this time on purpose and Tawney laid into her, Yang allowing the girl to get in several good licks. Yang's hair ignited as she slammed her fists together, Tawney stumbled back as Yang wound up. Tawney's face shifted into slight concern, she ducked the first hit, slamming her fist into Yang's gut. Her eyes lit up, golden in color, a single shot tossed Yang from her feet, landing several yards away, taking a knee and gritting her teeth. Tawney bounced on the balls of her feet.

"The moment I've been waiting for!" Tawney shouted in a full out sprint towards Yang. Their fists met in full swing, the epicenter for a massive shockwave that tore down every tree within one hundred yards, throwing back the rest of Team CBLT and Blake. Tawney looked glanced at their fists and chuckled slightly before Yang grappled her quickly with her cybernetic arm and dealt another extreme blow, the girl's aura drained in that single hit. Tawney gasped and chuckled. "Shit…" She hit her knees before collapsing.

"What's the plan?!" Lykos shouted hurriedly as he helped Bái up. "Cobalt?!" Cobalt glanced at Tawney and then back at Yang, remaining mindful of Blake, but fully aware that she was on the move.

_*TARGET IN MOTION*_

_I know!_ Cobalt glanced back at his clone, he knew that the weapon it held was incapable of any blasts like his own… but maybe he'd be able to use that to his advantage. Cobalt sprinted for his clone, pointing at Bái.

"Ice wall! Behind me! Now!" Cobalt yelled, she nodded and complied, giving him a moment to be hidden as Yang cocked back, Lykos and Bái diving back behind it to avoid the shots. She destroyed the wall as Blake came to a stop beside her.

"Which one's the real one?" Yang asked, knowing as well as Cobalt did from teaching him that only the real sword could also be used as a gun.

"There!" Blake pointed. "His clone damaged his armor when the limb crashed down from above him." Yang smiled.

"Thanks, babe," Yang replied, blasting the sword out of Cobalt's hands and he watched it for a moment in disbelief.

"Dammit!" Cobalt yelled. "Bái, Lykos! Serpentine, get me in there!" Lykos and Bái fired projectiles rapidly at Bumbleby, Blake stepping in front of Yang and becoming stone as they ran. A blast from Cobalt's laser blasted through the earthen clone and slammed into Yang's back, knocking her onto her chest, her aura wavering from taking so many hits from Tawney. She glanced back.

"That's not possible," Yang said to herself. "Unless…"  _He switched swords with his clones when Bái created the barrier!_  Bái stood above her with an ice spear in her hand, smiling.

"Do you yield Ms. Xiao Long?" Bái asked. Yang grunted as Lykos placed his foot in the middle of her back. She laughed.

"You got me," Yang admitted. Cobalt ran past quickly, his clone close behind, both with their weapon in hand. Yang smirked.  _Short term, Cobalt splitting himself in half was a great idea, but because the fight didn't end as quickly as he calculated, he's done himself in. He has one shot left and from what I've read in his file, cloning himself splits his aura until the clone is defeated. If she defeats his clone first, it's a level playing field again. And she's well aware of the fact._ "You can do it, babe!"

Blake split herself into three, taking off in different directions, the real Blake sliding to a stop and watching Cobalt hesitate as his visor processed which one to take down. She sneered as he took aim, the clone lining up the shot.

"Well Ms. Xiao Long," the real Cobalt said placing his hand on the clone's shoulder. "I guess this means we've won." One of the clones whipped Cobalt's sword out of the clone's hand, the shot missing. Blake opened fire, forcing the real Cobalt to deflect the shots, the second of Blake's clones exploding into gravity Dust, throwing Cobalt back. The first clone that had disarmed Cobalt's clone threw out her gun, gripping the ribbon tight and spinning Blake around, launching her at Cobalt. She landed beside him, swiping at him and taking his aura out and causing his clone to disappear.

"Did your tech tell you that?" Blake asked. Her clones grouped up on her.

"Now what?" One of them asked.

"The river," Blake instructed them taking off. "Take care not to get wet." The second clone nodded.

"Right," It agreed. As they left Cobalt he rolled onto his side and groaned.

"Really? Afraid of water? How cliche," Cobalt complained. He watched Blake disappear as Lykos and Bái arrived. Tawney joined them a few moments later.

"Two on one now?" Lykos asked. Cobalt nodded.

"She headed to the river," Cobalt told them pointing. "That way." Bái and Lykos nodded and left the two of them, Tawney helping Cobalt to his feet. "Huh. Now that I think about it, why would she have told me she was heading to the river anyway? She should have just left and told the clones on the way there."

"I don't know," Tawney told him, "But I'd call this a moral victory."

"How so?" He asked.

"I'll tell you later," Tawney replied. Yang moved to them.

"You two okay?" She inquired.

"We're fine," Cobalt assured her.

"I took it easy on you," Tawney informed her. Yang laughed.

"Okay," Yang jested. Cobalt rubbed his forehead as he glanced around for his weapon. "It's too bad Blake already has a group, you guys seem like you have a lot of potential."

"What?!" Cobalt shouted as he deactivated his blade. "She already has a group?!"

"Yeah." Yang chuckled nervously. "Some of the teams came out here last week and the rest came out today. Blake was one of the teachers chosen for last weeks group, but we came down here to test Neela and her team. You guys ran into us before we could even find NITE."

"We were going to have to fight another teacher?!" Cobalt exclaimed.

"Calm down," Tawney told him. "We could have taken the next two teachers too." Yang shook her head.

"You guys can take on another teacher if you'd like, or you can keep the grade you end up with here, but then you'll be assigned to whichever teacher didn't run into a team," Yang told them.

"Is there the possibility of a makeup match?" Cobalt asked. Yang shook her head.

"We can take another teacher, Cobalt! By the time Lykos and Bái are done with Blake, we'll have our aura back!" Tawney declared. Cobalt looked at Yang.

"We'll take the grade here," Cobalt told her.

"I see her!" Lykos exclaimed. Blake ran along the riverbed with her two clones, making it a point to head for a set of rocks that would let her cross the water without getting wet. She was losing time and they were getting closer, Lykos couldn't imagine what would push her to risk the battle unless the water scared her. She wasn't really afraid was she? Why would she choose the river for the last locale, it would give Bái the advantage. Something didn't add up.

"I'll stop her before she can cross!" Bái exclaimed.

"Bái…" Lykos hesitated. The river rose exponentially to form a wall and Blake slipped through with her doppelgangers. Bái was justifiably confused and drew all the water back towards herself, it swirled around her in a cyclone, forcing Lykos to step back from her as the torrent lashed everything around her, created a barrier. He glanced back across the river. Where had Blake gone?!

"I can do this!" Bái exclaimed. "I'll use a tidal wave to clear the forest!" Lykos glanced about again, albeit too late as he watched Blake perched in the trees above, slamming a lightning Dust clip in and slashing at the air, a wave of electrical energy danced across the whirlpool around Bái before it filled with the lightning. The water crashed to the ground, sweeping Lykos off of his feet, and he rolled across the ground, avoiding gunshots. He leapt to his feet, his next move already planned. He threw his shuriken hard past Blake, letting them reach a great distance so that even Blake's heightened senses wouldn't be able to keep track of them. He scattered them further out, avoiding more gunfire. This was it, enough projectiles at random to her back would do the trick.

Two explosions drew his attention, undoubtedly her clones had been charged with fire Dust before they were created and their time had expired. It was the perfect scenario, he'd be able to focus all of his attacks on Blake and overwhelm her. His attention turned back to Blake to find that she was accompanied by four clones. Lykos was stunned for a moment.  _She has to be at her limit, doesn't she?! How many clones has she made now?_  It couldn't be helped, he would stick to the plan. The shurikens returned, flying at an alarming speed. As the projectiles smashed through the clones, they exploded into electrical bolts, focused into Blake's magnet on her back, a magnetic wave dropping all of them to the ground.

"Heh…" Lykos grunted. "Well, you got me, and since hand to hand against Gambol Shroud would be suicide, I concede." Blake jumped down and shook his hand.

"You kids put up a good fight," Blake told him.

"Thanks," Lykos replied moving to Bái and taking her up into his arms. "So you're our teacher huh?"

"That's a long story," Cobalt replied as the rest of them approached. CBLT joined back together and headed back for the cliffside, hoping to find refuge until they could either be extracted or climb back up once Bái regained consciousness. Blake and Yang watched as they left and Blake sighed, wiping her brow.

"Can you stop referring to me as "Bellabooty" in your classroom?" Blake asked. "The kids keep calling me that." Yang laughed.

"These kids can't deny it either, you've got a great ass," Yang replied. Blake gave her a dirty look and Yang took a step away from Blake, looking her over. "Overdid it on the clones?"

"A few more and I might have had problems," Blake told her. They headed after the kids slowly. "Also, was it necessary to slap my ass during the fight back there when you took down Tawney?" Yang glanced over at her and chuckled.

"What?" Yang inquired.

"Don't 'what' me Yang. It's probably going to leave a handprint," Blake told her.

"As much as I love you Kitty Cat, it wasn't me!" Yang protested. Her eyes grew wide for a moment.  _But I'd call this a moral victory._ "She really is a maniac." Blake looked at Yang.

"What was that?" Blake asked.

"Nothing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it seems that CBLT more than likely pass, but who will be their teacher then? Also, as a side not because it was asked before, these teachers do not go all out against these kids. Yes, they would easily beat them. Next week, Team NITE looks to find themselves a mentor in Chapter 39 - NITE vs. Crosshares!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	43. NITE Vs. Crosshares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NITE enters the forest and fights to make Coco their team's leading teacher for the year.

"Who do you hope that we end up with for our teacher?" Eliana asked Neela as they made their way through the dense woods looking for Titus and Ilia. Neela leaned back against a tree for a moment, blowing into her hands to try and generate a little bit of heat to keep them warm. She used her semblance, scanning for any sign of Titus or Ilia before spotting Titus and leaping back to her feet, leading Eliana through the forest. Who  _did_  Neela want to end up being with them in the field for the rest of the year? It was preferable that it wasn't Blake, she had already taught Neela almost everything she knew, and she would constantly be worrying about Neela and protecting her. However, with the exception of Pyrrha, there really was no better instructor for the rest of her team.

"I wouldn't mind Pyrrha," Neela told her as they approached Titus and Neela tapped him on the shoulder. He pulled her into a bush without any warning beforehand, covering her mouth and watching Eliana dive in after them. Titus quieted her as she thrashed for a few seconds, trying to process what was going on as she came down from the initial panic and followed his line of sight. Coco. So that was it. She would be their teacher for the rest of the year. Now to plan out their fight and get a passing grade. They would grade NITE more harshly, they were the top-ranked year one team after all.

"Where's Ilia?"Eliana asked softly. Titus looked back at her and grinned.

"Enjoying the ride," Titus replied. His grin faded. "Can't you jump in someone else's body for once?"

"What's the plan Neela?" Eliana requested of her leader. Neela thought it over for a moment and decided on something.

"Titus, you draw her fire and form an earth wall between the two of you. This will allow Ilia to set up before Coco can destroy it and she can volley gunfire back towards Adel. With any luck, Eliana and I will be able to draw most of her fire and keep it off of you. A couple of waves of gravity Dust should keep her on her toes and will give us a chance to get Ilia in close. From there it should be a cakewalk as we all close in," Neela informed them. They all nodded at her and the plan was set in motion.

Titus sprung out of the bushes and ran into the clearing to Coco's right, just inside of her peripheral vision and Neela grabbed Eliana, grappling a branch above as they silently made their way through the trees. Coco turned and began firing, Titus pushing as hard as he could to stay in front of her aim and slamming his kopides into the ground as he slid to a stop, a large stone wall rose up between them and Ilia leapt out. It almost seemed to be going too well, and it was… until a gunshot rang out, nailing Ilia in the shoulder. She shrugged it off at first, but as another came, her body jerked hard and she grabbed the spot where she'd been shot. She knelt for a moment, looking at her shoulder.

"May?" Titus asked. He deflected the next bullet that came in and stood over Ilia defending her. "The trajectory and angle are right, not to mention the sound of the gunfire. That has to be Ms. Zedong."

"The sniper? Long distance accuracy teacher, or whatever her official title is, right? I guess they've got both long and medium range covered," Ilia responded as she stood. "Hopefully Neela can pick off May before we get destroyed."

"We'll be fine," Titus replied slamming his kopides into the ground again and raising another wall behind them. "We'll continue as planned." She nodded at him as the first wall was destroyed and they rushed Coco. Meanwhile, Neela and Eliana had already picked up on the sniper and were heading towards her.

"So we have to fight two teachers?" Eliana asked.

"It appears so," Neela replied as she stopped short and tackled Eliana out of the tree, one of Ren's guns, Stormflower, flew through the canopy, returning from where it had been thrown similar to a boomerang. Eliana landed on her back with a grunt, Neela on top of her.

"Ren's fighting us too? What's going on, there's no way that we could take all of these teachers!" Eliana exclaimed. Neela noted that her hands rested on Eliana's breasts and she was torn between squeezing them gently, or quickly removing her hands. Eliana looked down her body at Neela. "Aren't they nice?" Eliana raised an eyebrow and Neela felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her as she leapt up and extended her hand for Eliana to stand.

"No, there's only one other teacher out here with Coco, and it isn't Ren or May," Neela replied as she continued towards the attacker with Eliana close behind.

"Then who is it?" Eliana asked. Neela moved quickly now, unsheathing her sword and blocking a blow from Crescent Rose, Ruby's scythe, as Velvet attacked. "Of course, Velvet can mimic weapons!"

"That's the general idea," Neela grunted. "They thought they'd get the jump on us because Velvet doesn't teach any classes, so only a few of us really know what she's capable of."

"You're a smart girl Neela," Velvet told her. "However, it'll take more than that to take down the two of us." Velvet formed Sun's bo staff and moved in, knocking Neela back and attacking Eliana who blocked with her forearms, trying desperately to get a shot in, but having her aim redirected by Velvet. She formed the two gun chucks, leaping and planting her feet into Eliana's chest, knocking her back and defending against Neela. Neela chuckled as they met each other's movements and attacked more aggressively, but Velvet held her own.

"Don't use those too quickly Velvet, or you might run out of weapons before the fight is over," Neela told her. Velvet slid back, forming Ruby's scythe again and firing, slamming Neela through several trees from the impact of the shot. Neela was in a slight haze and disbelief as she tried to get her feet under her.

"We've made a few adjustments to my camera," Velvet said with a smile. She reached back, removing an arrow as Neela's bow formed in her hand and drew it back. "I'm sorry Neela. Think of this as a learning experience." Neela was able to shake off the confusion, but it was too late. She wouldn't be able to deflect the arrow. She'd been bested by Velvet and she was about to learn what it felt like to be on the receiving end of her bow. As the arrow impacted it shattered, dissipating into light particles that danced into the sky. Velvet glanced back to see that Eliana had shorted out her box, slamming both of her electrical prods into it.

"Whoops," Eliana said laughing nervously. "That worked almost a little too well, didn't it?" Velvet leapt back from Eliana, removing her box and hitting it against her hand, watching as Myrtenaster attempted to form in her hand, but flickered away. Velvet turned back to see Neela who was inches from her, sword to her chest.

"You have to worry about Eliana too. We're a package deal," Neela told Velvet.

* * *

"Titus!" Ilia shouted at him, she deflected Coco's bullets, but the sheer volume drove her back anyway and she slid past her teammate. "Come on Mr. Modern Major General, what's our strategy?!" Titus continued his barrage of gravity Dust waves against Coco, but it didn't seem to affect her, she stared calmly through her sunglasses as she continued her attempted onslaught, her expression never changing.

"You can't out think me, Titus. You're going to have to overpower me," Coco called out. "And I've fought in a war, so don't expect it to be easy." Coco threaded the magazine that hung over her shoulder into the gun and gave a slight smirk, one that was almost impossible to notice. "And expect it to get harder right now." She opened fire again, this time her rounds laced with fire Dust, each bullet causing an explosion that rocked the surrounding area. Titus stumbled slightly, diving for Ilia. An explosion threw them from each other and she hit her head against a tree, knocking her out. Titus switched to wind Dust, redirecting a barrage of bullets back at Coco. She tried to keep the explosion from affecting her, but she was forced to leap back, Titus moving to Ilia as Neela and Eliana rushed in.

He checked his scroll, her aura was still intact, which meant she was still in the fight, but in this condition, she was only in the way, and he could only assume that getting her to safety would help their grade. He lifted her quickly, placing his hand on her forehead.

"Wake up Ilia. You need to use your power so that you're protected," he told her. Another round of fire tossed Titus off his feet, cradling Ilia and landing roughly, something jarred under his back and causing him pain as he let go of Ilia involuntarily, her body rolling away. Titus cringed in pain, throwing himself to the ground, noting that he had landed on a rock that was about the size of a large chest or cache. He groaned and struggled to where Ilia lay as he could hear someone approaching behind him. He glanced back, Coco had separated herself from Neela and Eliana by throwing up a handful of ice Dust and firing at it, creating a steam cloud that would only slow Neela for a moment.

"Don't take this personally!" Coco shouted as she swung her purse, slamming it into Titus back. He hit his knees as she swung again, the handbag making contact with his head this time and he fell onto his chest as his aura broke. Coco stepped over him and moved to Ilia, making quick work of the girl, but taking care not to push past breaking her aura. An arrow from Neela flew in, Coco sidestepping it and sighing in amusement as she made her way back towards the girls. Moments later the arrow exploded, causing Coco to stumble, taking her focus off of Neela and her grapple hook snagged Coco's purse, dragging her with as Neela retracted the line. Titus groaned, his body trembling as he sweated profusely.

 _Not now,_  he thought.  _Not now!_  His skin flaked from his face, revealing stone underneath, his body shaking.  _I can't contain it, can I?_  Titus managed to work up the strength to find his hands and knees, crawling off out of sight back towards the cliff.

"Elli!" Neela exclaimed.

"Right!" Eliana replied. She threw up a forcefield which Coco slammed into, bounding off and moving to transform her purse back into its gun form, but noting that it was missing. Neela handed it to Eliana and drew back an arrow, Eliana dropping the purse on her toes. She cried out in pain and Neela glanced over at her.

"Are you okay?" Neela asked.

"You didn't tell me that it was so heavy!" Eliana exclaimed. She leapt up and down on one foot, holding the other. "Cripes! Warn me next time!"

"I thought it was implied!" Neela told her. She looked back down her sights, noting that Coco was nowhere to be found. What was her plan? She was weaponless, it wasn't like she could still win. Was she retreating, and if so, why prolong the battle? "I'm going to go find Coco. Join me after your foot stops hurting so bad." Neela used her semblance and took off.

"Neela! Wait!" Eliana called out. She attempted to chase after her leader but immediately fell to the ground, wincing in pain. "Dammit!"

Neela ran as quickly as she could, using her grappling hook to cut the distance between them down as Coco stopped at Velvet's body, swiftly removing the camera from Velvet. Neela only reached Coco in time to witness her putting the harness on so that she could wear the box herself. Neela chuckled as she came to a stop, Coco and her staring each other down.

"I never expected this in the possibly countless outcomes," Neela told Coco. "It's too bad that the camera isn't working right now." Coco smirked.

"Then you should have no problem winning this fight right now," Coco told her. Neela aimed, firing at Coco as she backflipped multiple times, the younger huntress missing each time as each arrow exploded too late. Coco slid to a stop as Neela loaded three more arrows, firing at Coco again as the teacher leapt back, the arrows impacting the ground and erupting, freezing everything nearby, the amount was enough to freeze one of Coco's boots despite her escape. She kicked at it with her free foot as Neela came closer. Coco couldn't risk using fire Dust, the explosion would do damage to her aura.

"Like you said, no problem," Neela told her. She drew one last arrow and fired, the arrow exploding and leaving Coco unharmed as she held Jaune's shield in her hands. Neela was baffled and she took a few steps back as Coco stood. "How?!"

"When you girls reached me, Eliana still had her electric rods extended from the ends of her guns," Coco explained. "I've worked on Velvet's camera more times than you can imagine." Coco looked Crocea Mors over and charged, Neela and Coco's blades clashing, Coco being pushed back with each slamming of Neela's sword against her shield. Coco wasn't experienced with a sword and shield, and Neela would exploit that. Neela attacked relentlessly, forcing Coco further back with every blow, the last created enough of a gap for her to quickly load an arrow and she fired for Coco's feet. Coco slammed the shield into the ground, crouching behind hit as the arrow exploded.

Adel shifted quickly as Neela leapt over her, firing directly down at her. Coco transformed her weapons into Akoúo̱ and Miló, blocking the arrow with the shield and transforming the javelin into its rifle form. She fired off three shots, two missing Neela by a surprising distance and the other ended up deflected. Neela charged, dodging the bullets as she got in close, Pyrrha's smaller shield providing little coverage as Neela was able to bat it away. The rifle then took its xiphos form, but Coco's inexperience left her open to attack once again. The weapons slid against each other, despite seeming awkward, Coco definitely had enough strength to hold Neela back.

They both grunted, fighting against each other, both of them struggling to read the other, Neela's mind was a never-ending evolution of outputs for possible outcomes. Coco's, the veteran mind that had experienced it all and needed to prove to herself that she was still the best, even if it meant defeating the most capable of the first years. The problem was that Neela didn't fight like a first year. Sure, she was inexperienced in the field, but this girl had grown up a Xiao Long. She had the prowess in training of a third year at least, and Coco often struggled with the more capable upperclassmen, but none of them calculated their strategy as quickly as Neela.

At this point, Neela had planned out the end of the fight to perfection, ready to execute it as soon as Coco leapt back. It was the only move Coco could make knowing no other choice would be allowed and she knew that Coco was just as aware. If Coco continued this, they'd be pushing each other back for minutes on end to no avail. If Coco did overpower her or was allowed to, her next move would be sloppy enough that Neela could deal a quick series of blows that would end it before Coco could choose another weapon. Coco would have to get some distance to allow herself half a chance, and Neela would have adequate time to end it. She smirked.

"So you know my plan, huh?" Coco asked. Neela gritted her teeth, giving extra effort to force the woman away, growing slightly impatient. "I might not be able to outsmart you, but I can still match you!" Coco leapt back, already transforming the weapon in her hand back to the rifle. Neela's arrow left as she was still airborne, Coco firing off two shots quickly, the first grazing the strap of her arrowhead pouch which Neela had just opened, spilling the tips everywhere. The second shot made contact with one of them, the chain reaction created a large explosion that blasted both of them away, Coco immobilized by Neela's arrow. When everything cleared they both laid on the ground battered, both of them auraless.

Coco laughed as she struggled to sit and grabbed her side. She grunted.

"Overkill?" Neela asked chuckling. She struggled to her feet and stumbled over to Coco. "How did you know that I was going to use a specialized tip?" Coco stayed seated, still unable to move for the most part.

"I wasn't entirely sure, but if you'd used any tip other than a paralyzer, there was a chance the battle would have continued on," Coco told her. Neela grinned impressed.

"You truly are a tactical genius," Neela told her. After waiting for a minute or two Neela helped Coco to her feet and they headed back over to Velvet who was waiting patiently for them.

"You're one to talk," Coco laughed rubbing Neela's head.

"But if you're such a good shot, how did you miss the first two?" Neela pondered. Coco pointed to Eliana who laid on her back, staring up at the sky.

"Eliana was on her way to back you up. I shot her to make sure she was out, when she dropped the purse on her foot before, she still had some aura left," Coco informed her. Neela helped Eliana up who sighed.

"I need to work on strengthening my aura," Eliana told Neela. "And being more vigilant during training." Neela threw her arm over her shoulders.

"You tried your best," Neela said. "That's what counts. Let's go get Titus and Ilia." Eliana nodded.

"Right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Team NITE will be training under the guidance of Coco for the rest of the year in the field. Next week find out what Raven has been up to in Chapter 40 - Raven vs. The Fang!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	44. Raven vs. The Fang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raven goes to make sure that Athena doesn't secure Ebony as an ally, but is she too late?

Raven would always be alone, but it wasn't something that bothered her, it was just a fact. If anything, the idea that there was no one around that could betray her or stab her in the back gave her comfort. Pain was such a pointless emotion, a hurt deep inside that only reminded the person that what they had lost would never be coming back, or that they couldn't fix what had been broken. Raven had no room for pain in her life, and the night that she had lost to Yang on Patch she moved on with her life. She would be a loner once again, but not before she dealt with her apprentice. The girl had been Raven's strongest asset for the longest time, and when Raven had betrayed the clan by allowing them to be killed by Mistral forces, Ebony had sworn her revenge.

In a stroke of rage and vengeance, the girl had joined the only person that Raven was remotely concerned about, Athena Taurus. Benjamin had told her the story long ago, a story that had filled her with fear knowing that if this girl got her way, the entirety of Remnant would be decimated. Benjamin had said that at a young age Athena had become fixated on strength in an unhealthy way. She would kill their pets and animals that they had raised for food, just to assert her dominance and show the White Fang that she was worthy of the cause. It created unrest among the elders, Ghira Belladonna in particular who had led at Benjamin's side, and had suggested that the girl be taken to a mental institution. That was where the falling out began. Ghira may have meant well, but it was the first offense against Benjamin that led the Fang to do away with the Belladonnas, save Blake who was too young to understand what the decision meant, not to mention the fact that she and Adam were so taken with each other.

Benjamin did not want medicine or magic being used on his daughter, instead choosing to lock her in a cage like an animal, letting her out to use the bathroom and practice fighting with her brother. That was what she had desired the most, to be stronger than her brother… and to be acknowledged by her father, who was too busy molding and sculpting Adam into the future of the White Fang. She took drastic measures to ensure that she was seen by Benjamin, but it had the opposite effect of what was desired. She snuck in one night when they had forgotten to lock the cage and stole Wilt and Blush, killing her mother in her sleep and stealing her ability to teleport. That was her semblance paired with the sword, the ability to steal the semblances of others.

Benjamin stopped letting her train with Adam and made sure that she was shackled at all times, Adam was charged with killing her if she ever escaped again. That was the entire story as Raven knew it. Now Athena was free, a caged animal that snapped on a whim and wanted the world to know that she was strong and capable. Capable of anything. She was determined to get the recognition that she had been denied as a child, only now all of Remnant was going to pay for Benjamin's choices. And at her side was Ebony Betsalel, a girl who was hell-bent on revenge against Raven, her worst fears had come true. She was homeless and only had herself for protection. Qrow's love for her would never die, but he surely wouldn't take another hit like he had from Yang for her again.

 _The clan is all that matters. After we die, the clan will live on, and by living on, they will carry out our legacy, the new head will honor our legacy and the clan will protect themselves and each other. Only the strong survive, and the clan is strong together._ Her father's words tasted bitter and they were utter bullshit. To that extent, she had come to agree with Athena. Raven was most certainly stronger, safer, and better off on her own. The clan had always had members that were weak, but they'd been thieves, scoundrels, and murderers. There was a sense of honor, and they would have overthrown Raven if she'd killed off the weaklings like Athena. It wasn't fear that kept Raven in charge as much as it was respect and trust. However, she'd broken all of that when she let them all die.

She stopped on the dirt path that she was on and placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, standing several yards away from Ebony who stood in the middle of the road before her.  _Most of them had died, not all._  Ebony's face remained expressionless as they stared each other down for a long moment and Raven's mind went back to meeting the young girl in Windpath, stealing food from the clan as they had come into the village the night before for supplies. She was young and scrappy, trying to fight her way out of the situation as Raven grappled her and offered her a place to stay. The girl was instantly attached, at her side every moment possible. Here they were again, the tables turned, and the stakes were much higher.

"Raven," Ebony said finally speaking. "I know that you didn't come back for me. The only thing that matters to Raven Branwen is herself. You couldn't even be bothered to help us when Mistral attacked. Where were you if I might ask? Hm? I know that you knew about the attack Raven. Perhaps you should be more careful as to where you leave your letters from Benjamin? You left us high and dry, you were more than well aware, and you made it a point to be as far away as possible when it happened." Both of them remained unmoving.

"Step out of the way or join me," Raven spoke with authority. "Once Athena is dead you can join me once more, and we will have no one left to worry about. I'm surprised that you were able to infiltrate her ranks so quickly."

"Were you afraid? Was the great Raven Branwen afraid of dying? Is that why you left? You trained me, did you think that the job you did was so inadequate that I would not be able to protect you? If you had been there, they might all still be alive, and you wouldn't be frantically looking for a place to stay as Athena hunts you down and threatens to end you," Ebony told her. She sauntered over to Raven and looked her over from head to toe as she circled her previous master. "Athena cares about us. She is benevolent and wants to ensure that all of us live, not just herself."

"You are a fool if you believe that," Raven told her, still rigid, her hand still ready to remove her blade and attack if needed.

"Any more foolish than trusting you again?" Ebony asked. "Athena is forgiving and merciful. If you beg and plead with her to spare you, she might grant you that luxury, under the condition that you join us that is." Ebony finally broke character and let out an amused chuckle. "She really is better than you in every imaginable way, but try and keep that between us. Crimson would be angry if she found out." Raven shifted, throwing her left hand out and palming Ebony in the chest, forcing her to stumble back a step.

"Athena cannot be trusted, and once she feels as though you've served your purpose, she will dispose of you," Raven assured her. Ebony shook her head and continued walking around Raven so that she stood in front of her once more.

"Think of this as my last favor to you for everything that you did for me and taught me," Ebony said as she walked away down the road. She looked back over her shoulder at Raven. "Give up and I will implore Athena to allow you to live." Raven unsheathed her sword.

"I'm not going to leave. Until Athena is dead I will not be at ease," Raven informed her. Ebony shook her head and removed the daggers from the attachment on her belt.

"Despite everything that you did to betray us, I still thank you for everything you did do," Ebony told her. Raven stood in a defensive stance turning at the last moment at the sound of footsteps, blocking a vertical strike from Crimson who was using a mimic of Wilt and Blush. Raven knocked her away as Ebony's daggers came in, Raven blocking them as well, catching them on their way back to Ebony. She opened a portal, throwing them in and closing it as Crimson attacked again, they clashed several times, Raven's counter slices and parries seemed as if she was guiding the girl.

"And you must be Crimson," Raven stated. Crimson smirked as Raven knocked her back again, taking aim with Blush and firing at short range. Raven sliced the round in half as she dropped through a portal, the two halves continuing on their path and planting themselves in trees beside Ebony. Raven appeared behind Ebony who disappeared into Raven's shadow. Raven stepped back into the portal, forcing Ebony out and leaving the two Faunus in silence.

"I guess my reputation precedes me," Crimson said. "She ran off."

"I doubt that," Raven said behind Crimson now. Crimson swung and her blade met Raven's, transforming it into the long katana that her opponent wielded. Raven pushed her back once more, it was clear to see that Raven was physically stronger than the girl, quickly sheathing her blade and choosing lightning Dust and removing it, bracing her sword horizontally with both hands and absorbing the electricity being fired at her from Awinita. Ebony made her move while Raven was occupied and charged in with her claws, preparing to pounce. As she became airborne, Raven tearing open a portal and as Ebony exited the other side, her claws planted deep into Crimson's chest. They both hit the ground.

"Who is this?" Awinita asked. Raven's blade reached saturation and she sent an intense bolt of lightning past the girl and destroyed several trees. She glanced at the damage quickly before focusing on Branwen once again. "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same question," Raven replied. Raven looked her over, her staff either charged or laced with lightning Dust to be sure, and some sort of cybernetic tech that looked like something Atlas would have built if they took pride in being lethal. Raven sprinted at Awinita, their weapons meeting one another. Raven was thrown back, stumbling away, managing to stay on her feet. Crimson and Ebony looked on in shock, Crimson shoving Ebony back and freeing her claws. Raven looked at her sword and then back at Mattachanna, lacing her blade in gravity Dust before pressing in again.

When the blade met the girl's staff this time, the force knocked both of them back, Raven quickly maneuvering to turn around, but had an inadequate amount of time. She threw herself into a portal moments before being impaled on Crimson's blade, Ebony quickly pulling out her daggers, still attached to the strings. They glanced around for a moment, unable to see where Raven had gone. Was she still inside of her interdimension?

"I can't deny that the three of you are strong, but it's time for us to stop playing around," Raven spoke, her voice coming from all around them. "Starting with Chainmail there."

"My name is Crimson," she told her. Raven appeared and smirked as she sliced the air in front of Crimson's attack, removing the blade from her hand. Crimson glanced back at it, a mistake as Raven was at her peak, Raven made three quick slices that no one could possibly hope to block. Crimson took two of the hits, the second enough to break her aura and also draw blood. Ebony met the last blow, holding her back with her claws. Crimson glanced down at the blood along her torso, touching her fingers to it. "A mistake to be sure."

"Crimson, not now," Athena said as she took the girl's place. Crimson was nowhere to be found and Athena stared back at Raven as she forced back Ebony and dropped her through a portal, closing it. Raven turned slowly to face Athena and they stood looking at each other. "I'm sorry if the ladies roughed you up too much, where are our manners? Allow me to introduce myself, I am-"

"Athena Taurus," Raven spoke. "I'm well aware." Athena frowned ever so imperceptibly.

"It's rude to interrupt a person in the middle of introducing themselves," Athena told her. She seemed confident, unbothered by Raven's preparedness to attack in an instant. "Why have you come here Branwen? Perhaps it was to retrieve your apprentice?" Athena watched as Ebony dropped out of another portal directly beside her, glancing about to try and regain her bearings. "I'm most certain that she is flattered, but she has no desire to leave the White Fang now that she has joined us. Was that your plan? You would sacrifice this girl to further your survival. What if I had killed her instead?"

"It would haven't mattered either way," Raven replied. Ebony's face became red and she moved to charge Raven, but Athena extended an arm stopping her, a smile on her face.

"You really are too much, aren't you?" Athena asked as she forced herself to choke back the laughter that was rising within her. "When did you get this way Raven? When I was a child all of Remnant knew to fear the Branwen clan, the only certainty that came with crossing your tribe was a quick and painless bloodbath. Now the clan is no more, and they only fear the name of Raven. Was it the spiraling depression that you fell into after your father dragged you back to the clan kicking and screaming? Did you find vitality from the idea that your life was the only one that mattered? Did your daughter not forgive you after nearly forty years?"

"I don't think any of that is your concern," Raven replied becoming irritable. "What matters is that you'll be dead in a matter of moments." Athena laughed now, she no longer wished to contain it and she threw back her head laughing loud and hard as Crimson approached from the far side of the woods beside Awinita.

"Strike me down then!" Athena exclaimed. "The difference between you and I is that once you are dead, no one will come to avenge you, but if you strike me down now, you will have the entire force of the White Fang come down on you at once. My people are loyal, and they know that every decision that I make, I make out of my love for them. We have survived because we are strong, and we will continue to survive."

"You think so?" Raven asked. She dropped through a portal, disappearing. Athena slowly unsheathed her sword, walking out of the woods to the middle of the road and watching all around. "We're more alike than you realize. Killing the weak to ensure that the strong survive? Who is the strong Athena? Crimson? Ebony? Surely you don't view them as your equals and if they prove to be weak, you'd kill them just as quickly as the countless others. No, you don't want to protect the Fang, you only wish to protect yourself. Why else would you surround yourself with such strength?" Athena offered an unamused and fake laugh.

"Does Ruby Rose at the head of the Peace Council not surround herself with such huntsmen and huntresses? Are you suggesting that Ruby only desires to protect herself? Logic would dictate that the strong should surround themselves with strength. It would be foolish to surround oneself with weakness. This is how it has always been," Athena told her. "That Rose is the most altruistic individual I have ever known of, surely not everyone at the head of power cares only about themselves. In fact, out of everyone we've discussed, you're the only one who fits the bill, Raven."

"I'm sick of talking," Raven told her. She appeared behind Athena, thrusting her sword forward to run her through, but Athena was replaced by a totem and Raven's sword caught. She planted her foot against the wooden tribal face, trying to pull it out, Crimson and Ebony charging in. Ebony dashed through a portal, coming out on the other side of the road by Awinita who stood watching in a bit of shock. Raven caught Crimson's wrist, directing her attack through the totem and freeing her own sword. She grabbed it, rolling out of the way as Crimson brought her blade down again.

"Come on Awinita," Ebony told her as she sprinted back in to fight Raven. Awinita didn't want to attack Raven. This wasn't her fight, she was only here to talk to Schnee, or fight her if it came down to it. Why had she come here in the first place? Was Athena really going to become the savior for all Faunus, or would she be their ruin once more, like her brother before her? Awinita stepped back as the armor fell from her body and transformed back into its bear form.

"Let's go back to the village Bjorn," she told him riding him into the forest. Meanwhile Raven still grappled with Crimson, Ebony joined the fray as Raven threw Crimson into her. They landed on the ground and Raven sheathed her sword, coating it in several layers of ice Dust before swiping horizontally before her, coating everything within several yards in a thick layer of ice.

"Now to finish you two off," Raven said as she coated her sword once more in fire Dust.

"Should I let them die?" Athena asked, her blade stopping Raven's as she had swapped spots with the two girls that were frozen together. Raven was perplexed by Athena's decision, lying on the ground like that would give her an extreme disadvantage unless she teleported away again, but it seemed as if Athena was finished with her fun for the day. A blast from Blush as their blades were locked threw Raven back, Athena leaping to her feet. "Could I live with that guilt?"

"I feel no guilt from letting my clan die!" Raven shouted as their blades met. Three quick strikes from both women and another blast from Blush, forcing Raven back again. The three girls weren't strong enough to take Raven on their own, but they were enough of a nuisance together that Raven was pushing her body to its limits. She had given it her all, and now Athena would remind her that she was an old woman who had half the stamina she once possessed.

"Perhaps I wasn't referring to your wretched clan," Athena suggested. Raven coated her blade quickly in earth Dust, slamming the katana into the ground and watching the earth part, giving her a moment to collect her thoughts as the ground opened up more than she initially expected it would and created a large chasm between them. Athena laughed as she peered down into the newly formed ravine. "You think that that's enough to stop me? Were you really so foolish to think that you could come here alone and defeat me, even after everything that my father has told you about me?"

"I was here only to kill Ebony!" Raven shouted, coating her blade in multiple Dusts. With any luck, the resulting blast from the instability would leave at least Athena dazed or unconscious and Raven would be able to escape and fight another day. Ideally, however, she'd kill Athena now. Athena laughed again, removing five small blocks of wood from the inside pocket on her jacket and she looked them over in her hand.

"Even now you lie to yourself, you need me dead as well," Athena yelled. "That's why I must kill you. Someone who knows not what they want but has the power that you possess is too dangerous to leave alive." Athena took the blocks of wood, placing them in a circle around her. Once she finished, she stood in the middle and sheathed her blade, holding the handle all the while as it began to glow, dim at first but growing slightly brighter with every second. Raven knew that Adam's semblance was Moon Slice, a dangerous finishing move that allowed him to cut through anything, but did Athena have something similar? Was Moon Slice genetic?

"Godspeed," Raven muttered. She slashed through the air vertically, a narrow strip of combined Dusts coming for Athena at an alarming rate and she teleported out of the way at the last moment, swapping spots with Raven. Raven was able to accidentally reabsorb half of the energy, the other half tearing her mask off and weakening her aura to the breaking point as Athena teleported back over and began her onslaught. She sliced quickly at Raven, teleporting between the wooden blocks with each attack, making her impossible to follow or defend against. Raven would block the blade on occasion, but it was mostly out of luck and didn't have enough confidence behind it to help.

"With you gone I will have nothing to fear once I am the ruler of all of Remnant!" Athena screamed. Her eyes were crazed and her attacks seemed effortless, Raven's aura was more than broken, and every additional strike left a large laceration on her body. Suddenly it stopped, it was silent for a moment as Raven hit her knees, breathing heavily as the pain set in and she winced and seethed, groaning. This was it… this was how she was going to die. "Raven. I can only hope that it was old age that has made you this weak, I really hoped for more of a challenge. I hope that in death you can finally find the peace and answers that you've searched so long for." Raven's eyes narrowed as she trembled.

 _I cannot die here! I will not succumb to this weakness!_  Athena lifted her chin and looked into Raven's eyes, seeing the fire and passion that had flared all of a sudden. She shook her head, removing the sheathed sword and looking it over. She swung the blade down, Raven could feel the heat and was blinded by its red glow as she threw up her sword once more, the Dust concoction that was still left coating the katana proved to be enough, and the explosion threw them both back, Athena landing on her back and Raven using what energy she had left to open a portal before passing out.

* * *

"Blake!" Yang yelled as she threw open the door of their apartment and stormed inside, Blake sitting on the couch reading a book, but quickly leaping to her feet. "Where is she? Where is Raven?! Someone said that they saw you bring her here?!" Blake moved quickly into the hallway and kept Yang from entering, matching her movements which was only causing Yang to become pissed and her eyes flickered. "Move out of my way Blake!"

"Where else was I supposed to take her?!" Blake asked. "She was lying in the middle of the lawn in front of the apartment complex when I came by for my break today. She was covered in cuts and was losing a decent amount of blood so I quickly came in, got Tai, and told Shadow to stay put. We called Ren and the three of us threw her into the guest bedroom and worked quickly to get her stabilized, she would have died."

"Am I supposed to worry about that bitch?!" Yang shouted at her. "You could have thrown her off of the cliff for all I care!"

"Yang-" Blake tried to calm her, but she knew that it was futile.

"And where is Shadow now anyway!?" Yang shouted. Blake looked away. "Blake!"

"She's in with Raven!" Blake shouted back. Yang's eyes grew wide.

"Are you crazy?!" Yang yelled.

"Shadow was worried about her grandmother and wanted to make her comfortable. She's too young to understand what's going on Yang, let her have this moment, it's the first time that they've met," Blake said. She stepped out of the way and Yang hesitated for a moment. "Please, Yang. You can tell her what's going on later, but let her have this moment." Yang's eyes receded back to purple and she slowly made her way down the hall, standing so she could peer into the room where the door was slightly cracked. Shadow sat in a child-sized chair beside Raven's bed.

"Are you okay?" Shadow asked. "Mommy Blake said that I could come in here and see if you needed anything. I can help! I'm five years old now, there's a lot I can do!" Raven turned only her head to look at the girl, sighing. The sigh brought her pain and she groaned, placing her hand against her side. The fresh bandages were appreciated, but it seemed that her cuts and aura were taking longer to heal than they normally did. "Do you need anything?" Raven was still looking at her but the words weren't reaching. Raven was only concerned with how fragile she'd become. Had everything in her life been for nothing. Would she die before she desired?

"There is nothing you can do to help me, child," Raven told her.

"My name is Shadow. Mommy Blake says that you're my Grandma Raven. I've never met you before, where have you been?" Shadow asked. Raven stared at her.

"I've been busy," Raven told her. Shadow gently sat on the side of the bed.

"Can I lay down with you?" Shadow asked. "I saw you trying to sleep earlier but Mommy Blake says that you can't because you're in a lot of pain, but Mommy Yang told me that when I climb in bed with her it helps her sleep." Before Raven could protest, Shadow curled up next to her and closed her eyes, breathing softly until it almost became a purr. "You smell a little like Mommy Yang." Raven's eyes grew wide and her throat closed on her. Her wounds? Was that what was ailing her now? Her chest… there was a growing pain, what was this?

_She looks just like you Raven! An exact replica! She's beautiful!_

Raven looked around the room at Qrow, Summer, and Taiyang as she held Yang in her arms, the baby had finally just fallen asleep, and they had all come to see the girl after Raven had come home from the hospital. Raven was dazed at the idea of this small child in her arms, she trembled at the thought. The love that she had learned to feel after a childhood of hate. It had all culminated into this little dragon. In Yang. Raven felt a tear slip from her eye as she looked at her family. How had she ever lived like she had?

She had Taiyang with her, her loving husband who promised to protect her no matter what happened. Qrow, her brother who had first shown her a way out of the clan and to a future that would give them all the world, even if that world was only the four of them and Yang. And her best friend Summer, who knew everything about her. Her deepest darkest secrets. The pain that she had suffered through. Not even Tai knew about who her father was yet. She would tell him eventually, but not until the high of their child finally wore off.

"Can I hold her for a while?" Summer asked. Raven smiled as she looked up at the silver-eyed warrior.

"Of course!" Raven beamed. She handed off the child and stood, stretching slightly but stumbling as she did, Taiyang caught her.

"Careful there my little blackbird," Taiyang said helping her regain her balance. He pulled her in and she was filled with ecstasy as the warmth of his body washed over her. "I love you, Raven."

"And I love you Taiyang," she said stealing a kiss from him. "I'm going to step outside for a bit of fresh air. Keep an eye our sunny little dragon." Taiyang nodded.

"Of course," he replied. Raven stepped out of the cabin, the sun would be setting soon and night would fall, ushering in darkness. Raven looked around the yard, imagining and dreaming that she'd be training Yang as the girl got older. She would teach her self-defense, and how to become a great huntress. The thought brought tears to Raven's eyes. This was what life was about. Without warning, Raven was struck across the face and stumbled from the house into the plants and bushes alongside it.

Before she could yell for help, the individual had grabbed her and covered her mouth, but she was unable to free herself. They were strong, and they now dragged her into the woods. She managed to bite his hand and he let go, slapping her once more and throwing her against a tree, pinning her by the throat. The man wore an outfit similar to Qrow's, it had the same color scheme, his one necklace bore a Dust crystal, and he wore a matching red hood that was pulled up over his head. The bloodlust in his eyes frightened her, glowing in the oncoming twilight.

"Five years Raven," He spoke, his speech slightly slurred, but wasn't it always now? "Did you and Qrow really think that when you left me five years ago that I would never find the two of you? I had come to expect this much from your brother, he's always been soft and delusional. If I could do it all again, I would kill him the day that you two were born, his weakness has only ever held us back Raven." Raven's eyes searched his frantically. He was a monster but worse, he was her father.

"I'm not returning with you Oriole," She told him. He pulled her back, slamming her head against the tree, clouding her vision for a moment and causing her pain. She grunted as he tossed her away and another member of the clan grabbed her, securing her arms and a second individual covering her mouth. Oriole Branwen pulled off his hood, revealing that one of his eyes was glossed over, perhaps an injury, which seemed likely from all of the new scars that covered his face.

"You will address me either as Sir or Father. You will not use my first name again or you shall regret it," Oriole said as he smirked, removing his flask and chugging hard, Raven still struggling. "It's a damn shame that there were two of you. Only two Branwen at any given time can share The Eye. Perhaps it would have shown you that I was coming." He referred to his semblance, which she was all too well aware of. His was that of prophecy, but he was unable to control what it showed him.

"Hmmmmm!" Raven protested. Oriole shook his head and glanced back at the cabin.

"You were foolish Raven, and for that, you must be punished," her father told her. "If you do not return to the clan within a month, we will return and kill everyone you love." Raven's eyes widened and she trembled, thrashing violently, desperately wanting to break free. "First Qrow and Summer, next Taiyang, and lastly, after you've fought us off for as long as you can, I will kill your daughter in front of you as you watch helplessly." He snapped his fingers and they tossed her back to Oriole who caught her by the neck and moved to her ear. "And then. You will still. Return. To the clan."

"Mmmmm!" She screamed as he quickly covered her mouth again.

"Do not try to resist Raven. It will only get them all killed. But perhaps, you don't truly care about them."

But she did. And she had no choice. She lived out the rest of the month, growing more and more hostile until there was a rift between all of them, a valley that couldn't be crossed. No one could reach Raven, and Summer became busier with missions as Qrow played peacemaker, trying to talk sense into Raven. By the end of the month, she left. She returned to the clan. And despite all of that, her father was not pleased.

He punished her. He restricted her rations. If she fought, he denied her medical attention. With every misdeed and misfortune that he wrought against her, Oriole blamed it on Yang. Slowly, after many years, Raven's mind became deluded, she resented and detested Yang. She hated everyone. They had never come looking for her. What good had come from loving and protecting them. She could only care about herself, that was the only way to ensure her happiness.

It was because of Yang she had to kill her father. And yet… Her mind returned again to holding the child in her arms and feeling more warmth and joy than she'd ever known since then. She looked at the small Faunus child that laid beside her and gently rubbed her ear, Shadow kicking her leg slightly. Raven resisted smiling.

"What a happy kitty," she said plainly. Yang was filled with conflict. She wanted to kick the door open and scream at Raven. She wanted to let out all of her hatred and hurt again in a single blow. But seeing Raven like this… It was different. Yang harbored the hatred and placed it aside in her mind, walking back to the living room.

"I want her gone tomorrow," Yang told Blake. "Whether it be Vale General Hospital or out on the street. I want her gone." Yang left the apartment and Blake shook her head slowly as she glanced up from her book as the door closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raven's attempt to stop Ebony from staying with Athena failed, and it seems like she's making little to no headway with Yang. Can she right her wrongs? Next week, CBLT sets out on their first mission with Pyrrha in Chapter 41 - Train Wreck!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	45. Train Wreck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CBLT deals with their first mission as Blake suffers through nightmares of her past.

"Why do they call it Forever Fall?" Cobalt asked as he led his team through the autumn colored forest, following Pyrrha out to their first field mission. "Is it for the great battle that was fought here, in memory of the countless lives that were lost, so that they will live on for all of time? Is it for the sinkhole created chasm that they say if you stumble into and fall down, you'll descend into an endless hole of darkness, inducing a life-ending madness that picks your mind apart until it completely destroys itself? Perhaps-" Tawney elbowed him in the gut.

"It because the leaves are always colored," Tawney told him. "Do you ever stop talking or creating fantasies in your mind? Just because we're not facing NITE doesn't mean you get to sluff off. Maybe you should get serious for once." He stopped for a moment as the Lykos passed him.

"I can be serious!" Cobalt exclaimed.

"I've never seen it," Lykos said. Bái patted him on the shoulder and he looked back at her as she smiled at him.

"I've seen it," Bái told him. "During initiation!" Cobalt's shoulder slumped.

"Not since then?" He asked. She skipped by to Lykos, laughing.

"Nope." She answered.

"Oh come on!" Cobalt shouted.

"Cobalt!" Pyrrha called. "Come along now!" Cobalt dragged his body towards the team, his arms limp as he followed in the back.  _What do they mean I'm not serious? I don't really need to be that serious! I can fool around as long as the work gets done, right?! I'll show them!_  He shook off the doldrums and ran back to the front of the group, Tawney watching as he passed by her with a raised eyebrow. What was he up to?

"How much longer?" Cobalt asked.

"Sometimes it's not about the destination, but the adventure of getting there," Pyrrha told him with a wink. They crossed over a small crest, revealing a set of railroad tracks that a train had derailed from, fire and smoke billowing from the cars. "What?"

"This isn't our mission?" Lykos asked. Pyrrha shook her head, removing her scroll and quickly dialing Glynda.

"Check for any survivors!" Pyrrha yelled at them. Cobalt and Lykos took to the trees, leaping down the hill as Bái slid down with Tawney behind her. Cobalt frantically checked the scene.  _Run a scan for any vitals in the wreckage._

_*ONE CONFIRMED DEAD. THREE SURVIVORS SCATTERED AMONG THE FIVE CARS. THE DECEASED APPEARS TO BE THE DRIVER.*_

"What was the train hauling?" Lykos asked as he and Cobalt landed at the base of the hill and sprinted for the caboose. Cobalt waited for his visor to finish analysis.

"Forget the caboose, move to the next car!" Cobalt yelled.

"What was the cargo?" Lykos asked again. The heat of the flames was enough to make them uncomfortable but they pushed in anyways, Cobalt leaping onto the side of the car, which now faced the sky, ripping the door off with the assistance of his armor.

"Dust!" Cobalt yelled. Bái came to a stop short of the scene and Tawney ran past her.

"Come on!" Yelled Tawney. Bái looked at her, she seemed nervous. "Bái!"

"There's no moisture in the air down there!" Bái exclaimed. Lykos looked at Cobalt.

"If we take off the bracelet, would she be able to help?" Lykos asked.

* _ADVISE AGAINST*_

"Yes, but with how dependent she's grown to it, it might end poorly," Cobalt suggested. "Especially in a stressful situation like this." Lykos grabbed Cobalt's arm as he leapt down from the freight car and set down the man he'd rescued on the ground.

"If something happens to her because of that bracelet," Lykos warned him. "I'll kill you."

"Not now guys!" Tawney yelled at them. She dragged the man out and scooped him up running. There was a hissing and Lykos took a few steps back.

_*SEVERAL CANISTERS OF CONDENSED FIRE DUST HAVE REACHED MAXIMUM PRESSURIZATION*_

Cobalt ran back towards the hill as Pyrrha sprinted past, using her semblance to grab the door off of the ground and seal the car. She struggled, containing the explosion but dropping to the ground immediately afterward.

"Mrs. Arc!" Cobalt yelled running to her. She lay on the ground, gripping her side. Lykos and Tawney joined him, Bái cautiously watching from the hill.

"You need to put the fire out," she told him. Cobalt's mind was in a flurry. They were supposed to be fighting Grimm today, he told them to conserve their ammo and leave the Dust at home, which meant Bái was the only solution now, but she couldn't use her power in the midst of the fire. "If any of the other cars erupt, the chain reaction will level this section of forest out for several square miles."

"Plus we have company!" Lykos shouted. Cobalt turned to see the Grimm preparing to charge as Lykos swept up Pyrrha and trucked out of the way with Tawney hot on his heels. Cobalt was almost frozen in place.  _Another Alpha Beringel, are you kidding me?!_  Pyrrha sat up.

"There's a river just on the other side of the tracks a few feet into the woods," Pyrrha told them. "Bái can draw the water from the river to douse the flames, I'll help Cobalt take down the Alpha." Lykos nodded, grabbing Bái and dragging her down the hill with Tawney. Cobalt snatched Lykos' arm.

"If need be, take off her bracelet to save the rail workers," Cobalt instructed him. Lykos nodded and they ran again, the Beringel following them with his gaze for a moment before pounding on his chest and roaring. Cobalt ran to Pyrrha, helping her to her feet. She placed her shield in front of her, forming her javelin into a rifle and taking aim at the beast.

"I'm going to draw its attention. You'll move in and attack," she told him.

"Is it normal for Alpha Beringels to be in this part of Vale?" He asked.

"It's not normal for any kind of Beringel to be in any part of Vale," she replied. "Oobleck looked into the incident during the initiation and the best that we can assume is that someone is moving them here for some reason."

"Why would they do that?" He pried. She smiled at him.

"Why don't we worry about that later and worry about killing that thing now?" She fired and Cobalt took off to his left towards the wreckage, hoping to use it to conceal some of his movement. He slid to a stop, crouched behind one of the cars and using his visor to watch the beast from his hiding spot. It was moving towards Pyrrha who had made it a point to hit him on the bone plates on his chest, mostly confusing it as opposed to angering it. Cobalt charged his laser, leaping onto the car and taking aim.  _Okay, Cobalt, deep breath. Time to be serious._  He fired and it struck the beast in the back of the neck, Pyrrha moving quickly up the hill as it turned back towards Cobalt, shouting out to make its pain known.

"Cobalt!" Lykos shouted albeit a moment too late. The ice crashed into Cobalt's body and froze him in place as a winter tempest galed around Bái and swept out in all directions. Lykos watched as the Beringel ignored the ice, charging for Cobalt who was completely defenseless.  _This is all your fault Cobalt and you're going to owe me big time later!_  Lykos scattered his shurikens, they grazed the Beringel's face, pissing it off further and it turned to roar at him. "Tawney!"

"Busy!" She yelled. Tawney was fighting Bái, whose body had gone full blown auto-defense mode. Lykos sighed and sprinted from the river back to the wreckage which was no longer on fire, but was freezing and ice coated. He slipped the bracelet on himself and watched the Grimm turn back to Pyrrha as she had fired at it once again. Lykos caught his projectiles as they returned, forming his whip and rushing past Cobalt.

"Lykos, his neck!" Pyrrha shouted. He sprinted ahead, hearing her but without enough time to acknowledge. He formed an illusion to appear to the Beringel as a Beowulf and leapt into the air, using his whip to catch its arm while its guard was down, and swinging himself up, lashing its neck. It grabbed at it in pain, stumbling for a moment. The monster batted Lykos away, serendipitously into Cobalt, freeing him. They tumbled across the frozen grass, it shattered as they bound towards the tracks.

"Down!" Cobalt yelled as Lykos tried to use their momentum to find their feet. He shoved Lykos back to the ground, the locomotive crashed into Cobalt with enough force to tear a normal man in two. Meanwhile, Tawney's fists had made contact with Bái several times, freeing her from her confusion.

"Tawney? Why does my face hurt?" Bái asked.

"Not important!" She exclaimed pointing at the Beringel. "That is, however!"

"Cobalt's aura is out!" Lykos shouted. The two girls scrambled over as Pyrrha kept the beast busy, it desperately tried to reach another one of the cars to throw at her. Lykos checked Cobalt's pulse as Bái and Tawney slid in next to him. "He's alive, but barely."

"He'll feel it in the morning, that's for sure," Tawney said as Bái coated his body with a thick layer of ice. "What's the plan?"

"Its neck," Lykos replied. Bái formed an ice pike, tossing it to Lykos.

"I'll get the people out of here," Tawney said leaping into action. Bái made her way towards the beast, Lykos close behind watching as she tried to keep it in place with her powers, but it broke free, still unable to be bothered with it. Lykos threw the weapon, the Beringel knocking it down, his attention now divided.

"Mrs. Arc!" Lykos yelled. "I have an idea, but I need you over here." Pyrrha sprinted for them as Lykos trucked it towards the Grimm, Bái forming ice under its feet and it slipped and stumbled, staying on its feet, but unable to leap away in time. Lykos slid through its legs, whipping both of them and forcing it to its knees. Bái slid into the fight, leaping into the air and planting her ice shield against its chest, leaping and slamming her feet into the shield, launching back. With the ice beneath it, the force was enough and fell onto its back as Lykos assisted it, showing an impressive amount of strength, snaring its legs with his whip and pulling them out.

Pyrrha leapt high into the air, using her shield to vault higher and seeming to float for a moment as she cocked back her arm, ready to strike. She threw the javelin, Lykos watching amazed as it went clean through the beast's neck, using her power to levitate her shield above her before letting it fly, removing the Beringel's head as it returned to her. She stood on its chest, out of breath as it dissolved into smoke. She looked back at them.

"I think it's safe to say that you all deserve an 'A'," Pyrrha said rubbing her neck.

"Really?" Tawney said sarcastically as she flopped onto the ground. "That was intense."

* * *

"Out of everything that I have come to know and enjoy from the spoils of this 'war', the 'holy' work that we are doing here in the name of Salem, I think that I enjoy this the most. More than the fame, or the power, or the lien," Strakh said as he sat on a semicircular couch in a nightclub deep in the middle of Vacuo's capital. There were three women draped on him, a waitress who wore a bunny outfit bowed slightly as she left a drink at his table and placed the platter under her arm. "Excuse me miss, but I don't believe that I ordered another drink."

"You are correct Mr. Temnota. The drink comes from the lady sitting in the lower level behind you, the table closest to the door," she told him as she sauntered away. He stared at her hungrily, smirking as he grabbed the drink, enjoying half of it and pouring the rest on the girl lying closest to him. She squealed in shock for a moment as he grabbed her by the hair, pulling her up to him and licking the alcohol off of her neck. Yes, this was far better than anything Salem had to offer. The waitress returned to the woman who had bought the drink. "I did as you asked ma'am."

"Thank you," the woman replied. She would wait as long as she had to in order to speak with the man, and she had a feeling that he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. She stared at her reflection in a mirror on the wall to her right, it's primary purpose to allow the hostess to see individuals entering the club from around the corner. The metal mask, black cloak, and hood the same ones she had worn the other night when dropping off the EMP to the Stardust Gang. It was a joke that Abigor had even chosen them to serve Salem's purpose. That was their man in Mistral. He was the one running the show and pulling the strings. Soon Abigor's plan would be known to the other three.

It was an odd name, and it wasn't a color, but his parents had always been followers of Salem, and she did not honor the arts or the creativity of mortals. At least that's what Jett had been told. She was at her table for hours, waiting on the man up top who was clearly too drunk to care who he kept waiting, despite the fact that he was told a week in advance to expect her. Abigor would be less than pleased and Jett hoped that it meant they'd be able to usher in a new head in Vacuo. Did the man really have nothing better to do? Was there nowhere that he needed to be? The man was not a huntsman, he possessed no aura and there were no guards here to watch him. Anyone could have easily killed him by now.

His laughter reached her on occasion, pissing her off even more since she had waited so long, she had far better things to do with her time, and despite the fact that their next move was several months out, there was much to finish before then. Her patience finally ran out and she flagged down another waitress, whispering in her ear and she nodded. The waitress brought her two drinks and Jett stood up, offering to help the woman. She protested, insisting it was fine, but after a few bumps into each other and Jett taking the wrong one by accident at first, they apologized to each other and the server brought the drink up to Strakh. He was busy trying to undo the next button on one of his call girls blouses, his newest.

"Sir, another drink from the woman sitting below. I think she's quite taken with you," she told him.

"What woman- What woman wouldn't be?" He slurred. He chuckled and glanced back, not even seeing her, but too drunk to care. "Send her up here and she can join us. Wouldn't that be fun ladies?" Two of the girls laughed sultrily as they traced their fingers over his torso, his hand gripping the new girl's shirt, grabbing his drink with the other. He drank half once again and poured the rest down the front of her body. "I'm so sorry. I guess this is all wet now, isn't it? Let me help you out of it." He gripped the shirt with both hands, pulling like a wild animal, buttons scattering everywhere.

"Please Mr. Temnota, I've never done this before," she pleaded shaking.

"Even better," He mumbled. "Inexperi-" He blacked out, his head crashing into the table as he fell to the floor. The new girl screamed as the other two scattered, glancing at Jett as she reached the top of the stairs.  _Didn't think I had drugged him that hard…_

"What's going on here?" asked a bigger man as he reached the top of the steps, the girls cowered, slowly backing away as he glanced at Strakh and then Jett. "What's the meaning of this?"

"I'm Mr. Temnota's chauffeur and it would seem that he's passed out again. I got a message on my scroll warning me that he'd passed out. I can take him from here, it's no trouble, and I'd hate to disturb your business in any way," Jett told the man. He stared hard at Strakh for a moment.

"Fine, whatever," the manager dismissed her, heading back down to the dancefloor. She looked at the women and reached into her cloak, they reeled, tripping over each other. She watched them in stunned silence, they cringed. How brutal was this man, and why did these women stay? She tossed each other them a hefty amount of lien, their eyes grew wide and they looked them over in disbelief. The two vets took off running, shoving anyone in their way as they headed for the exit, the new girl looking hard at the lien, and then back at Jett.

"Thank you," she said quietly holding her shirt together in the front with one of her hands. She left silently and Jett sighed. Now to drag him out.

"Well, if it isn't Strakh Temnota in the flesh," Jett said as he came to, his eyes adjusting to the large empty stretch of desert she had brought him to, struggling to move.

"What's the meaning of this?!" He demanded. He was chained to a large metal pole, large enough in diameter to fit him inside if it had been hollow. He had been stripped of his pants, wearing nothing but boxers and he thrashed relentlessly, knowing that it was of no use.

"You were supposed to meet with me today Strakh, or had you forgotten?" Jett reminded him as she stood with her back to him. "Oh, and I'd get comfortable if I were you. I thought maybe it'd be fun if we switched the roles up for once, have you tied up while I take advantage of you. If you'd struggle a bit I'd appreciate it, it's kind of a kink of mine."

"You think you're funny?" He asked. She turned around, looking over the two kukris in her hands. She tossed the one in her right hand up, flipping it and catching it repeatedly.

"Do you think it's funny to rape young prostitutes?" She asked. He scowled and she came closer, holding one of her blades near his crotch. "No? I mean, if you do, we can still have our fun." She lightly tapped his scrotum with her weapon. "Just a warning, I'm a biter."

"Knock it off, what do you want?!" He shouted. She smirked.

"Not so tough now," she told him taking a step back.

"You think you can get away with this? Someone will come looking for me!" He yelled. His words didn't seem to affect her one way or another and she stood there stoically, staring at him.

"You're right, but since I can't kill you because it would make Abigor upset, and you can't tell anyone what really happened here because you'd like to leave with your pride intact, I think that we can come to an agreement that you won't ignore me the next time I come to discuss business with you," she informed him. She sat cross-legged in the sand, watching him for a few silent moments. Unlike before, she felt no need to rush now.

"What does Abigor want?" Strakh asked frustrated, finally giving in. Jett nodded.

"He wants a full summary of what happened with Tyrian, to the best of your knowledge. It caused Olesia to take action, and now we have to try and manipulate Sterling's hand and get one of ours in a position of power so that we can control the military force that Mistral sends to Vacuo. He'd also like to know why you haven't subdued Ilia yet. She knows too much considering the fact that she used to be your best thief. Things are going to get difficult for you soon Strakh," she told him as she stood and brushed off her cloak.

"Tyrian was instructed to wait, and Ilia will be taken care of in due time!" Strakh yelled. In a blur, she had moved to his neck, one of her blade's tips held firmly against his jugular. "And you can't threaten me like this! I'm the only one that She will talk to."

"I'm pretty sure She'd rather talk to anyone else," Jett reminded him. He wrenched his head away, causing her to chuckle as she began to walk away. "Oh, and if you mess up again, Abigor will be looking for someone to replace you." She kept walking away, removing her scroll to make a call as Strakh called after her.  _He did say that someone would come for him after a while._ "I'm on my way back now sir, you can expect to see me two days from now. It went off without a hitch. I was also wondering why we didn't just call him. Too late now I suppose."

* * *

"Neela!" Blake shouted as she ran through the heavily wooded area. The air smelt familiar. The scene felt familiar. What was happening? Blake watched as a group of Atlas Military members thundered through, opening fire at nearly anything that moved, a Paladin tearing up the landscape, stopping to turn and fire at a group of Faunus that were trying to defend themselves.  _I know what this is…_

"Blake!" Yang shouted. She was standing a few feet from her wife, Yang waving her to keep moving. "Ironwood and his spec ops team have Adam cornered, we need to get him now or he's going to get away again!" Blake looked at Yang in confusion, turning back to the Paladin that was setting fire to the campsite before moving along.

"Why are Admon's men killing everything in sight?" Blake asked joining Yang. They ran towards the rendezvous point, Blake's mind swimming with the hate and fear she had once felt. "These Faunus, some of them don't realize what's going on and they're only here for protection, they aren't supposed to be killing them, they're supposed to be taking them into custody."

"As soon as Adam is dealt with, we can address the issue with Admon," Yang told her. "I wish we could do something now, but you know what will happen if we let him get away again. This will never end." Yang sprinted out in front of Blake, leaving her behind as Blake tried to catch up but she disappeared in the even denser forest ahead. As Blake broke through the foliage, she found herself leaping out into a trench, sliding down into it, rain pouring as she stumbled and face planted in the mud, forcing herself to her feet.

"Adam used to speak so highly of you," a voice said that she couldn't place. She looked around, unable to find the source, but finding herself face to face with Adam. She turned to grab Gambol Shroud, but her weapon was missing. The rain had stopped. It was night, summer. She could see all of the stars in the sky above the forest canopy and he smiled at her.

"Someday Blake, when the world has finally found the peace that it is longing desperately for, you will be my queen and we will represent Faunus everywhere," he told her."I can't think of anything that I would want more."

"What about Athena?" Blake asked. Adam chuckled.

"What about her?" He asked. "Father keeps her caged to keep us safe, but he loves her far too much to kill her, he's told her so several times." Adam grabbed Blake's hands and looked into her eyes. "As long as she's in that cage she can't hurt either of us."

"But what if she gets out?" Blake asked. Adam's face slowly transformed into Athena's and she sneered, pushing Blake away.

"Then you'd better beg for mercy!" Athena yelled. Blake lifted her arm to block Athena's blow, she closed her eyes anticipating pain but instead opened them to find Yang touching her arm gently, Gambol Shroud in her hands.

"You okay?" Yang asked.

"Of course," Blake replied.  _Was this a dream? What was happening?_

"Yang. Blake," Ironwood said. "Something for you to see." They followed him another half mile into the trees, finding a large open cage, Athena still inside, grabbing the bars and peering through them at Blake.

"It's empty," Yang said. "What do you think they kept in here? A Grimm?" Athena laughed.

"Tell them, Blake, tell them what was kept in here! Tell them how you never helped me. Never offered to let me out. You tried to forget about me after you left, didn't you?" Athena asked.

"It wasn't an animal," Blake told them. They looked at her. "It was Adam's sister."

"What the hell," Yang stated blankly. She touched the bars and Athena brushed her fingers.

"She's cute," Athena said.

"What kind of monster does that?" Ironwood asked.

"Adam thought that it was for the best. She was even more dangerous than he was," Blake told them.

"I bet she's great in bed," Athena told Blake. "Look at those breasts."

"Where could she have gone?" Yang asked. Athena stepped out of the open cage and watched them.

"No one in their right mind would have let her out," Blake told them.

"Do you regret not letting me out sooner?" Athena asked standing behind her. "Is that why we're going on this trip, hm? This is obviously a nightmare, what are you waiting for to wake up? Maybe it'll get better? Maybe you might remember something?"

"Should we try and find her?" Yang asked.

"With Admon's men killing everyone she's probably dead by now," Blake suggested. Ironwood glanced at the two of them.

"We'll double check the area. As soon as I find Admon and stop his men he'll be taken in for questioning," Ironwood informed them.

"I guess you should've gone looking for me yourself," Athena said laughing. "You're filled with regret, aren't you? You think that if you had let me out, maybe I wouldn't have turned out like this? Interesting. I'm excited to see how this dream ends!" Blake's body became taught for a moment, the scenery spinning about her, different yet the same.

"Help me…" Came a faint cry.  _Neela!_ Blake took off running, the small shack only moments from crashing in.  _Neela, I'm coming! Mommy's coming, I'll keep you safe!_ As Blake reached her daughter and grabbed her from the building, she swung out with the girl, Neela disappearing from her arms and standing before her as she appeared now. Blake's breathing eased as she reached for her daughter's hand, but stopped in an instant as Wilt impaled Neela. Blake trembled as the sword was removed and Neela dissipated, leaving Blake in an empty black void.

"Can you protect her?" Athena's voice asked. "Have you truly done enough to prepare her for a monster that had no soul. There is only hate that resonates within me, Blake. You will pay for what you did to my brother and you will pay for what you did to me. And once you're out of the way, Remnant will cry out my name. They will beg for mercy. I will give them a reason to hate me, I will justify their fears, it is what they yearn for! But first, I  **will**  kill Neela."

"No!" Blake screamed as she sat up and leapt out of the bed, crashing into the bookshelf beside the door with enough force to clean off the top shelf. The books crashed about her and Yang sat up, quickly turning on her lamp and sliding out of bed, fumbling around for Ember Celica. She shook off the sleep and squinted at Blake whose chest rose and fell at an abnormal rate.

"Blake. Kitty Cat, what is going on?" Yang asked.

_I will kill Neela._

"It was just a nightmare," she sighed. Tears filled her eyes and she wiped them with her palms looking away from Yang.

"Are you okay?" Yang asked as she walked around the bed to her wife. Blake threw herself into Yang's arms and sobbed.

"I'm so afraid Yang. I don't know if Neela is ready to face someone like Athena. You remember the stories I told you that Adam had passed on to me. She'll stop at nothing to get her revenge if what your mother said is true," Blake cried. "I can't take the pain and fear of all of this!"

"We did it once Blake, we can do it again," Yang reassured her. "And Neela doesn't need to be strong enough on her own. She has her team to fight beside her." Yang laughed silently. "Hell, if Eliana is there I'm sure that Neela would be more than proficient enough to beat anyone." Blake groaned and nuzzled Yang's cleavage harder. "Getting frisky there babe?" Blake chuckled.

"No," she said coyly. "They just make me feel at peace." Yang embraced her tightly and Blake hit her side.

"You're so cute I could just smother you!" Yang exclaimed.

"You kind of are!" Blake choked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CBLT kicked some ass, Salem's people are on the move, and Blake can't sleep at night. Next week, Raven is reminded of something she'd forgotten in Chapter 42 - War and Love!


	46. War and Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Neela has a job, how will Eliana cope?

"Of course I'm excited that Neela got the job! Why wouldn't that excite me?! She needed the money so that she could have a normal winter break this year instead of heading up to Atlas! It's awesome news, the best! Great! Really!" Eliana exclaimed as she sat on her bunk with her textbook, Titus glancing back at her from his desk and then looking over at Ilia.

"She's been going off like that for nearly thirty minutes now," Titus groaned. Ilia shook her head and rested her chin on her fist.

"Eliana, at this point I think the only person you're trying to convince is yourself," Ilia told her.

"Don't be ridiculous! That's crazy talk! I just wanted the two of you to know that it's fantastic! Fewer distractions while I'm working on my readings for classes and whatnot, right? Right! I'm going to get more work done than ever before! I'm going to have grades so good it'll knock Neela's socks off, they'll surpass even Cobalt's!" Eliana exclaimed. Titus sighed again and rested his forehead on his desk.

"Eliana, we get it. You think maybe you can go study in the library?" Titus requested.

"Guys, I'm fine!" Eliana exclaimed. Titus let out a pseudo-growl and looked at Ilia mouthing for her to do something.

"No one is saying that you aren't Eliana, but we're trying to study and you keep going on and on about Neela," Ilia told her.

"You got a thing for her?" Titus asked, becoming motionless as the words left his mouth and turning slowly to face Ilia. There was a crazed look on her face and fire in her eyes, keeping Titus from even flinching. Her eye twitched.

"You mean, am I attracted to Neela?" Eliana asked. Ilia crossed her neck with her finger, the corner of Titus's lip twitching. "She's got a great ass and she's super cute. I love those three braids she has, they're so her. But I mean, who wouldn't be attracted to Neela." Titus looked as though he was ready to explode, but he knew the moment he opened his mouth Ilia would tackle him and possibly disembowel him. At that moment the door crashed in vertically, Cobalt and Tawney lying on top of it, both dazed with nosebleeds.

"Did you hear that Tawney?" Cobalt asked.

"I did Cobalt," Tawney replied. "Eliana said-" A gust of chilled air rushed into the room that froze Cobalt and Tawney, Lykos poking his head in and waving at Eliana. Eliana was confused but waved at Lykos to be polite as he picked up Cobalt and Bái dragged Tawney out.

"How did the door even collapse like that?" Titus asked. Ilia shrugged.

"Is that what you meant Titus?" She asked. He froze again and looked at Ilia for help before standing and putting the door back into place.

"Have I shown you pictures of Vic yet?" Ilia asked. Eliana shook her head and Ilia slid across the room, leaping onto the bunk. "So this is him with his mom and dad. Here he is this morning at his beach house. Here's a picture of him with his teammates."

"Who's the chick with the wings, she's cute!" Eliana exclaimed. Titus facepalmed.

"Eliana, don't you have homework that you need to finish?" Titus asked. Eliana leapt down with her textbook.

"Right! Can't have Ilia distracting me! I'm off!" She announced taking off. She slammed the door behind her and it fell to the floor again.

"Kind of flighty, isn't she?" Ilia asked. Titus scratched his head.

"I'm still trying to figure out this door," he replied.

* * *

"You're going down!" Eliana shouted as she raised her fist to the air. Eliana dove back to her left, grabbing a snowball and throwing it across the lawn over the top of her fort at Lykos. She reached out for another, Bái forming it quickly and feeding them to her. A barrage came in from Neo who had joined Lykos, and Eliana let them pelt off of her forcefield, opening it only far enough to occasionally fire. Bái turned quickly, whisking snow up around her and a mass of separate snowballs floated around her gently.

"Cover me!" Bái yelled. Eliana charged out, forcefield ahead of them as they pushed past the fort and in. When they reached their target Neo and Lykos were nowhere to be found…

"Where?" Eliana was cut off by three snowballs rained down from above, pelting Eliana and throwing her onto her chest, Neo landing on her and holding her parasol behind her to block Bái's attack. She smiled and placed her blade to Eliana's back.

"Eliana!" Bái called out as she blocked Lykos' snow projectiles with an ice shield.

"Go on without me!" Eliana called out. Neo threw her head back in silent laughter and pointed at Bái, winking at her. Neo disappeared, appearing behind Bái and swinging at the girl who managed to block it without seeing it, which shocked Neo, but gave Lykos apt time to land the three snowballs he needed to win. Eliana leapt to her feet and shook off the snow. "Awww, how did we lose six in a row, you have snow and ice powers built in!" Bái laughed nervously as Lykos cleaned the snow off of her.

"Cobalt made me something so that my powers aren't so crazy," she told Eliana. "I'm trying to get used to having to control it. Before I had the bracelet, it kind of controlled itself."

"Do you remember how you ended up like this?" Eliana asked. Lykos stepped forward to interject, but Bái grabbed his arm and pulled him back slightly.

"I don't remember much, and when I try and remember, my powers usually get out of hand," she explained. "There was fire. And someone named Merlot was being yelled at. And I remember crying. But that's it. Nothing before that really and I was so badly injured I don't remember much after."

"Maybe your mind wants you to forget because it's easier," Eliana suggested. "It's different than my situation, I'd like to leave the pain behind, but I never want to forget what happened. It's one of my reasons for fighting."

"Speaking of reasons for fighting, isn't Neela off of work soon?" Lykos asked. Eliana's face quickly twisted into a smile and she lit up, running down the sidewalk and nearly slipped as she passed the man salting the pavement.

"Not yet, but by the time I get to Vale she will be!" Eliana called back. "Had fun! See ya!" Neo waved and looked back at Lykos, cocking her hip as she pointed her thumb back towards Eliana.

"They're just really good friends," Lykos told her. Neo shook her head and left the two of them. Meanwhile, Eliana quickly boarded the airship with some of the other students and sat on one of the benches, waiting impatiently to reach the city.  _You got a thing for her?_  Eliana laughed at herself. She knew what that meant and she meant everything in her reply. Wouldn't it be taboo? Neela had always been like a sister, even if Eliana  _did_  feel that way, it was entirely inappropriate. What could she call this feeling then? She cared for Neela more than she did her other friends, but maybe that's just what it would feel like to have a sister… A sister with a really, really nice ass.

Eliana spirited off of the ship, running as quickly as she could up the hill that was the main street, reading the address of the bookstore over and over until it was simply another piece of information that she had always known, like her name or address. She turned the corner, sprinting past the police station and saluting quickly, she wouldn't have the time right now to pay proper respect, but she'd be sure to do so on the way back. A couple of minutes. Maybe she could surprise her, come up to the desk and mask her voice while Neela was turned around. She did need the latest volume of Ninjas of Love… though maybe she should get that while she's by herself.

Eliana opened the door. Or she could get it now and embarrass the hell out of Neela. Eliana rubbed her hands together as she made sure the door to Foxes Fables didn't make any noise as it shut and she quickly moved into one of the rows. Were they in alphabetical by title or author?

"Excuse me? Can I help you find something?" A voice asked to her right.  _Oh crap, what do I say? Yes, I'm looking for an erotic novel, perhaps you can direct me to it. I could lie. That doesn't help me though, then I"ll be in here even longer. No choice, I'll just have to be blunt with the poor guy._ She turned and looked at him. Her heart stopped and her ruse was over as she squealed like a fangirl and began leaping up and down.

"Fox Alistair!? Now the store name makes sense! Oh my Oum! I can't even right now! Can I get an autograph… No! Can I take a picture with you?! You were there at the Fall of Beacon, on Team CFVY! I think I'm going to cry!" Eliana screeched.

"Uh, sure," he replied.

"Really?!" Eliana exclaimed. Neela poked her head out past the edge of the shelves, spotting the two of them and joining them.

"Hey Elli," Neela said. Eliana's smile skewed and she stamped her foot. "What's up?"

"I was going to surprise you, but I couldn't contain my excitement!" Eliana said. "How was work?"

"My shift is over in five minutes," Neela told her. Eliana took a few steps back.

"Right. Sorry," Eliana apologized. She looked at Fox as Neela walked away.

"Are you really blind?" She asked. Fox nodded, leaning against the shelf.

"Yep," he answered.

"And you run a bookstore?" She questioned.

"I realize the irony," he replied.

"So wait, if you're blind, how are you able to fight?" She inquired.

"Well you see-" He was cut off by Neela from across the store.

"What book are you looking for Eliana?" Neela asked. Eliana looked at Fox and blushed as she stared at lights hanging from the ceiling.

"I… I uh… I can find it myself, thanks though!" Eliana called out. She snuck past Fox and stifled a nervous sigh. "Excuse me." Fox shrugged and went back to work as Eliana wandered to the other end of the store, finally finding it. Neela came up behind her as she grabbed it off of the shelf.

"Boo," Neela said quietly. Eliana jumped, dropping the book and swinging around, socking Neela in the arm. "Hey, it's just me. Sorry."

"Neela! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Eliana shouted at her quietly. Neela laughed and picked the book up.

"Ninjas of Love? Like those harlequins my mom reads?" Neela asked. Eliana snatched it away and gave Neela the cold shoulder.

"This is a completely legitimate form of writing, I read it for the storyline," Eliana told her glancing back over her shoulder. "Though there are a few things I wouldn't mind trying out." Neela turned beet red.

"Like what?" Neela asked pushing the issue. Eliana smirked. Normally Neela backed down when Eliana asked her those sorts of things. Interesting.

"Maybe we should discuss them back at the dorm," Eliana suggested brushing Neela's braid as she passed by. Neela stood in stunned silence for a moment before biting her tongue and balling her fists.  _Son of a Bitch!_  Neela took a couple of deep breaths and returned to the counter, Fox was already checking Eliana out, the girl as red as Neela must have just been, and Neela went into the back room, clocking out.

"See you tomorrow Fox!" She called out.

"Great job Neela!" He replied in a shout as they left. Neela looked over at Eliana who smiled. There it was.

"So, what did you do today without me there?" Neela asked. Eliana threw her head back and laughed.

"I'll have you know that I had a great day!" She exclaimed thrusting her fist into the air. "I got my reading assignment done for physics, and I had a snowball fight with Báikos!"

"Báikos?" Neela asked.

"Yeah, Bái and Lykos," Eliana replied. Neela laughed and Eliana looked at her, furrowing her brow. "I stand by what I said."

* * *

"Do you remember the very first date that we had here Raven?" Taiyang asked her as they sat in a gazebo in the park in the middle of Vale. Raven looked around, her eyes frantic, as though she was anticipating another attack from the White Fang at any minute. She'd been pretty badly beaten, but she started by taking it easy, and they'd let her leave the hospital for a few hours for some fresh air before they brought her back to run a few more labs and then they would send her on her way. "It was our second year at the academy, and Qrow had more or less dared me into doing it because he thought that you were going to eat me alive, and you know how well Qrow and I get along. Yet, unlike when we were at Beacon when I got you away from the school you were at ease, relaxed."

"We came here after we decided to get take out at A Simple Wok and we spotted Qrow and Summer spying on us. You decided that we'd show your brother how wrong he was by making out right here and then. I'd never kissed a girl before but you seemed over experienced, and we winged it. I'm sure it was awful for you, but the look on Qrow's face was priceless, I thought for sure that he was going to choke on his popsicle!" Raven looked at Tai and waited for a second to make sure that he was finished speaking.

"What are you going on about?" Raven asked.

"Don't tell me you forgot our first date!" Tai exclaimed laughing.

"That's not what I meant Tai," Raven told him watching Neela and Eliana pass by, talking and laughing with each other. "Why? Why bring any of that up? That was all a long time ago and clearly, I've moved on from all of that."

"It's a nice memory despite the fact," he told her. Tai caught what Raven was watching in his gaze and he chuckled. "They're living more right now than you have in your entire life."

"How so," she asked, though her tone suggested that she didn't care.

"Life's not simply about surviving Raven," he told her, though he knew she was already well aware. "It's about the moments that you remember. My life isn't defined as it is now, a retired teacher and huntsman who runs a daycare for the teachers at Beacon. It's about my time with Team STRQ and our shenanigans. It's about being a huntsman and protecting my friends and family. It's about the two daughters that I love more than anything in this world. That's how I would define my life, and even if I died right now, I could be content with that."

"But why?" She asked. "You can't possibly mean that. Your life would be over, it would be the end of your existence. How can you find peace with such weakness? Death  _is_  weakness."

"Raven, you think that life is nothing but a measurement of strength, but you're wrong," Taiyang tried to convince her. "Don't you remember how it felt to hold Yang in your arms? To see her smiling face and to know that the only thing that she needed at that moment was her mother? Did you forget that when you left?"

"Those memories aren't good for anything!" She seethed through her teeth as she slowly stood.

"Why?! Because you were vulnerable!?" Tai shouted at her, also standing. "Are you telling me that you don't wish that you could take it back?!"

"Would it matter?! It's in the past!" Raven shouted in his face. Tai stopped for a moment, both of them breathing heavily in the others face.

"So you do regret it," he said. She turned away and walked to the edge of the park, heading down the sidewalk back towards the hospital, Taiyang on her heels.

"I never said that," she told him.

"You're not denying it," he said coyly.

"And now I remember why I left you," she retorted. She hobbled away from him more quickly and he watched her, debating whether or not chase after her as a crow flew past him. He shook his head and turned away, heading back towards his house. The crow perched on Raven's shoulder and she growled at it, causing it to leap off and hover around her. "Qrow!"

"How'd you guess?" He asked sarcastically taking his human form.

"Shouldn't you be letting your ribs heal?" She asked.

"Didn't realize you cared so much. You know how well I listen to medical advice. Besides, I dropped by your room and saw that you were gone. Thought I'd find out what you were up to." He replied walking beside her. "Who messed you up this bad anyways?"

"Athena Taurus," she informed him. "Once I'm healed up I'll head back out there and finish the job."

"Alone? That worked out well last time." She stopped and glared at him.

"I'm sorry, were you looking for an invitation? I'm not going to ask you for help, but I won't stop you if you're feeling compelled," she replied. He chuckled.

"Isn't my fight." Qrow began walking again and she walked beside him, barely matching his pace considering the pain. "I see this problem as yours, Blake's, and Yang's."

"You don't care about Yang enough to help?" She asked. He chuckled.

"I care enough about Yang that I'm not gonna make you ask her for help. If you're stupid enough to make the same mistake twice, more power to you. At this point I almost think it would be easier for Yang if you died," he explained impassionately. She looked away from him.

"Asshole," she grumbled.

"I wasn't always this way," he reminded her. "You and I were still inseparable in high school, we both wanted nothing more than to stay far away from dad. But then he came back and got you right? Threatened us and then treated you like shit?" She shot him a shocked look as they reached the intersection and she activated the light for the crosswalk.

"You knew?" She asked.

"What else was there for me to do after you disappeared? Once Summer died, Yang was motherless again, and when I wasn't helping Tai with the girls, I was looking for you," Qrow informed her. "What I can't understand, is why you didn't return after you killed father." Raven froze as the signal changed and Qrow began across the road.

_Qrow had known all this time… and yet he had never said anything. Was it due to our agreement? Even then logic dictates that he should have told Yang everything, right? He knew facts, but this chill that's come over me feels more like he can tell what I'm feeling as well._

"Qrow… You know I had to-" He looked back at her, waiting for her as cars laid on their horns. He flipped one of the drivers off, waiting patiently in the middle of the walk as Raven slowly regained her wits.

"I'm not pissed off about dad," he told her as they made it across the street. "You saved her once Raven. If you truly hated her as much as you let on, I don't think you would have done that." He shrugged. "But hell, that's mostly speculation. Do what you will." With that he transformed, flying off.

Raven watched him for a long moment. Half dazed and turning away in a slight confusion. Her father's words rang out.  _If it wasn't for that child you'd be able to eat with us! Understand?!_ Raven clenched her fists. Qrow couldn't sway her so easily, Yang  _was_  the one to blame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently Raven is no closer to actually trying to make amends, and Eliana is stir crazy when Neela isn't around. Next week, Ebony tries to prove her loyalty by trying to kill Neela in Chapter 43 - Self Defense!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	47. Self Defense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neela is working late after school, but will a visit from the Fang change everything?

Winter. In a strange way, it was Mother Nature's manner of killing off everything before starting over with a new slate in the spring. It was poetically appropriate, in the same way, that nature cleansed all things with winter by forcing them to start anew, the radical extermination of the White Fang by the Atlas Military and Team RWBY had coerced Neela into doing the same. It was a struggle at first, Neela only wanted her mother and father, longing for the warmth of a meager campfire that had been haphazardly thrown together, alone and sheltered from the rest of the world in the woods. Away from the humans that hated them. But much like the regrowth of spring, Neela had come to accept what had happened. Perhaps it was cynical but there was the possibility that she was content deep within her subconscious with the fact that her parents had died.

Yang and Blake Xiao Long, the best parents that she could have asked for chose to adopt her, but it was long before her knowledge of the fact. At first, she was afraid that they had only done it because they could find no one else to do so, a terrible and senseless notion. But she was young and fear had been integrated into her body and soul so deep that she had only known that surviving meant everything, and the fear drove them to survive. Winter to spring. From a naïve child to a huntress. She would become a warrior that would stand against those who elicited such fear, she would pay back her mothers tenfold! She would make them proud by surpassing them, by taking away the fear that they hid away in their hearts, but were too proud let it show.

Winter again. This time it came in the form of Raven and a new Fang. Neela was holding up okay, but the idea that the White Fang was back toyed with her, even if she refused to admit it. Her grades had slipped, her 4.0 now closer to a 3.7, and though she was able to hide it well from Blake and Yang, Eliana had noticed. That was nothing compared to her mothers' behavior, to say the least, Yang thundered through the campus on most days like an angry Beowulf, and Blake normally spaced out during lectures, shouting at random corners of the room when she would snap out of it. When would it all be over? When would it be spring again? Would they make it this time?

"Neela," said a familiar voice in the back of her mind and she shook off the deeper thinking that had crept in, turning slowly to face Fox and smiling sheepishly at him before dropping the act and sighing. "If you keep letting your mind drift like that you're going to be here until tomorrow morning." He was right, each day the news of the Fang's return affected her more and more. She tried not to think about it, but she could hardly remember the last time that she felt this threatened, though threatened was a strong word to use. No one had seen any members of this new group. The Atlas and Mistral Military had followed every lead to this point, but despite having a strong general idea of where the ruffians were hiding, they were unable to find them.

"I know," Neela replied. "There's just a lot going on at home." It was a half lie and Fox shook his head, gently taking the scanner from her and holding his hand out for the book underneath her hand on the countertop.

"The White Fang is a dangerous bunch Neela, but it's nothing that you can't handle," Fox reassured her. She stared into his eyes for a long moment, of course, he knew. The council had finally decided to make the announcement, deciding to risk the possible panic of the news in order to keep the public informed of the situation. Neela wanted to say that she agreed with her Aunt Ruby's decision, but even something as simple as the announcement had already brought about minor backlash. Fear. People distrusting the Faunus, as though nothing had ever changed, as if the Faunus hadn't integrated themselves into society and had lived with them in harmony for close to twelve years. "I'll finish up here. Go home."

Neela's eyes remained on him and she slowly nodded as the words finally reached. It would be good for her to leave early. Early being a relative term, she hadn't finished her duties for the day, but it was already dark out and Fox was ready to close up shop. She clocked out, taking her school bag with her and headed out into the blowing cold, the snow was coming down heavy, blowing, but not so hard that she couldn't see where she was going. It was bone chilling, she contemplated taking the bus once she reached the main strip, not wanting to have to walk all the way down the hill to the docks. She moved along, checking her wallet and counting her lien to make sure that she'd have enough for the bus and ammo until she got paid in a few days.

Neela bumped into someone, stumbling off of them as she crashed into their torso, but they refused to move. She glanced up at the woman as she threw her wallet back into her backpack, frozen with a sudden but unexplainable fear. The woman didn't smile at first, her yellow eyes piercing Neela as she stared at the girl, long black hair that came down to the small of her back but looked thin drifting in the slight wind and collecting the occasional snowflake. Her first thought was that maybe she was a prostitute, her black leather pants clinging tightly to her form without any room for error, and her top covered with a burgundy colored corset with a silver floral pattern, the area covering her navel and the sleeve leading up to her long black armored gloved made of a mesh material. What was this sudden feeling? Was she overreacting? This woman could be anyone, and all she did was accidentally run into them. The woman smiled softly, looking Neela over. Neela felt violated, as if the woman was undressing her with her eyes, or sizing her up for battle.  _Get a grip Neela._ She threw her bag back over her shoulder and quickly shuffled past the woman who continued gazing at her.

"I'm sorry!" Neela more or less blurted out to her as she moved quickly through the storm to the bus stop. She glanced back, the woman was nowhere to be found, and that gave Neela relief as she used her abilities and noted no sign of her. There had been nothing to worry about, and for all Neela knew, it might have been a figment of her imagination. She took a deep breath, removing her scroll and checking the messages, mostly quick and abrupt prompts from Eliana wanting to know when she'd be back for the night, but making sure to let Neela know that she wasn't bored and was doing fine without her. It was followed by some nonsense about meeting one of Ilia's boyfriend's friends and… Neela's eyes scanned the image repeatedly.

Her worst nightmare was in the process of coming true, wasn't it? That girl with the wings, she looked amazing! Neela wasn't sure she would compete with looks like that! Had she waited too long?  _Get a grip Neela, you know how bubbly and innocent Eliana is, it's probably just a harmless group date… Double date… Ilia and Vincent… Eliana and…_  Neela trembled as the bus stopped and an old man with an apron who waited on the bench beside her climbed up the stairs.  _I waited too long! I need to get back to the school now and tell Eliana everything!_

"Hey, kid!" The driver called to her. She looked at him blankly before shaking her head. She needed to get on the bus and she needed this man to drive like he had never driven before.

"Coming!" She shouted almost frantically, throwing lien at him. "Can you make it quick? I need to get back to Beacon as soon as possible!" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and motioned for her to sit with his head.

"Listen, kid, this storm is only getting worse and these roads are crazy slick. How about I just get us to the dock in one piece, okay?" He asked. She looked at him, not understanding how her sense of urgency was lost on him.  _This is life and death! If I'm too late, what will it matter?! Will anything matter!?_  She moved back and took a seat, tapping like a psycho at her scroll, sending a message to Eliana, telling her that she needed to meet her at the dorm as soon as she got back, and to stay away from… She stopped typing. What was she doing? Eliana would get carried away, think that they were in grave danger or something crazy like that. Neela deleted the message and opened a new correspondence to Ilia instead.

***  _Ilia, you know how much Eliana means to me, why did you set her up with- ***_

"What the hell?!" The driver cried out. Neela glanced up in time to see what appeared to be a disc, though it was impossible to know through the snowfall, slide through a car driving down the hill in front of the bus. A flash of red light ignited, ejecting outward from the disc through the vehicle and towards the park, exploding. The few people on the public transit gasped and one woman with a baby in the back screamed, the driver slamming the breaks, but the snow proved too much and they slid down the hill, another car exploding as the same disc appeared. Neela watched the second with her semblance, a fire Dust string attached to a rotating dagger, or perhaps two connected at the handle. "We're going to crash!"

Neela closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, focusing her mind before opening them once more, her instincts kicking into overdrive and moving her body before she could realize what the solution was. She moved quickly to the back, kicking the emergency door open and firing her grappling hook at the closest sizable tree in the park. She leapt back, removing the band from her arm and quickly strapping it to the last pole in the aisle. She activated her scroll quickly, calling for her locker and giving the park's coordinates as the drop-off. As her tow cable rapidly reached the end of its length she panicked for a moment, doubting its ability to stay together once the sudden added weight would be realized.

The device held up, a sudden jerk which threw the people riding forward into the seat in front of them as another car exploded. Without warning, they were all thrown back and Neela turned back in time to see that the metal rod she had chosen had broken free. It bounced once and Neela leapt quickly to catch it, planting her feet and angling it upward, deflecting it from taking out the woman and child. It dragged her to the back, catching against the back siding and stopping once again, the passengers groaning and crying out in confusion as it all ended.

"Out now!" Neela yelled pointing to the door. They all shoved past each other as she stood to the side, watching them leave as she realized a throbbing pain in her left hand. It looked bruised, most definitely from the pole glancing off of her hand. She pressed it between her legs, using the grip to gently pull on it, seething. Her aura would take care of it to be sure, but it still hurt unimaginably… What was that sound? Her semblance activated and she could see the daggers spinning with uncanny speed through the air for the bus. Neela detached her wristband as the last rider exited, she grappled the driver and let her hook do the rest, throwing them towards the park as the bus erupted behind them.

"Thank you! Thank you! Oh, Oum! Thank you!" The driver shouted over and over as Neela rolled off of him. She pointed to the far end of the park.

"Get to safety!" She commanded him. He nodded and took off, sliding and slipping on the ice and deepening snow. Neela looked at her scroll, scanning it for an estimated arrival time for her locker when the same daggers from before slammed the device out of her hand. Neela rolled out of the way, the line attached this time was gravity and the force was enough to keep Neela off of her feet. She planted into the cold snow, using her grappling hook to assist her in standing. As she found her feet, she noted that several masked figures were beginning to close in on her. She swallowed hard.  _Please… No… Please!_  White Fang. Winter.

"You," said a voice that Neela didn't recognize, but she could hear the anger and disbelief rolling like smoke off of the single word. Neela slowly looked back, noting the woman that she had run into before, she had a cockeyed smirk, the same as before, and she drank Neela in again. Neela sniffed the air, her body trembling from fear and the chill of the winter wind that blew across the city, they watched each other, playing their game of mental chess as they both gathered all the information that they could. Neela almost thought that the woman's scent seemed familiar, it had a certain musk, a kind of hatred to it that wouldn't be quenched easily. Was this not the same feeling she'd felt when Raven had arrived during the party?

"So it's true," Neela spoke, gathering all of the strength she could muster. "The White Fang is back." The woman didn't answer right away, her men, six to be exact, all awaited their orders to attack. They all glance back and forth between each other, looking eagerly at the woman, as though they were actual animals, and were waiting impatiently for their master to send them in for the kill. "I'm guessing that it goes without saying that you blew those cars up on the main drag back there…"

"Shut up." It was all she replied with. What was she waiting for? Why was she doing all of this, to begin with? Neela couldn't be sure that it mattered, but her ears picked up on her locker coming in quickly, and she contemplated her choices. Her scroll had been destroyed, so an immediate escape was out of the question. Besides, it probably wasn't the best idea to leave these radicals out here to continue destroying the city regardless. She couldn't call for help. She'd have to fight her way out, or die trying. Just a few more seconds. One of the masked men with a snake's tongue hissed and laughed in amusement. Neela's mind crashed through a wall, placing her back at the campfire with her parents.

_Humans are not to be trusted Neela. Your mother and I only want what's best for you, and if you join the humans, you'll get hurt._

_She shows so much promise for being this young. The last time they talked this much about a child with aura in the Fang was Taurus._

_She will bring the world to the balance that we've desired for so long. She will kill many humans. Neela will be the one that makes them pay, the one that opens their eyes._

Snow. Blood stained snow. Her parents slain before her. The fear crept in again. The humans had stolen her parents from her. The White Fang had been right all along. Why had she ever agreed to leave them? Why…

" _Hey, Neela!"_

Eliana's voice rang out in Neela's thoughts louder than the doubt and the fear. Neela looked deep into the soul of the woman behind her. This woman intended to put an end to everything that Neela loved. Eliana, Yang, Blake, Shadow, her teammates, everyone… That was the Fang's goal. They'd prove that Faunus should be feared, no matter the cost. Neela remembered the woman and child she had saved only moments ago. Her breathing steadied. This was it. This was the opening to her spring. One of the assailants behind her flinched and the locker slammed into the ground. Now!

Neela grappled the door off of her locker, launching it behind her, it slamming into one of the men as she grappled the locker, allowing her hook to pull her quickly in. She came to a stop in front of it, the other two Faunus that she now faced drew their guns, Neela used the locker to shield any attacks from the other three and the woman leading them. She grabbed her bow and quiver, slipping it on as she loaded two arrows. She drew back the bow sideways and let them fly, striking both of the men in the chest, the tip erupting as lightning Dust left them paralyzed. A quick use of her Hunter's Gaze and she could see that the woman had moved in quickly, standing behind the locker. Neela loaded an arrow, rolling out of the locker as the leader's knives sliced through the metal horizontally. Neela wanted to take a moment to appreciate the artificial claws, but such novelties had no place in this battle.

The gravity arrow struck the inside of the locker, dislodging it and throwing it through the woman who had disappeared. Night had set in, and if not for Neela's night vision and the somewhat distant street lights, she would have no hope of seeing anything, but somehow she'd lost sight of the woman. She flipped her bow into its sword transformation and deflected bullets as she charged in at the men. She could tell from the sudden use of her ability before that they had no aura, and she took care not to kill them, instead opting to stun them. A bullet slid across her forearm as she reached of them, her aura mending the wound quickly as she used him as a human shield, holding her blade to his neck.

"You stupid little girl," the Faunus grunted, struggling against her. "Are you not a Faunus too? Why do you resist the Fang? You can join us and become more." She gripped him tighter and he grunted in discomfort.

"Tried that once, wasn't really my thing," she told him. Before she could toss him forward and reach into her pouch for a flashbang arrowhead, the woman rose up from the ground in front of them and stabbed him hard in the chest, laying into him like a lunatic, Neela releasing him in shock and watching as her opponent dropped him. There were less than a few feet between them, and they had once again been reduced to this game of staring. The mystery huntress looked upset, as though things weren't quite going the way they planned. "More than you bargained for?" Neela was shocked at the words that had escaped her mouth. She wasn't normally one to be full of herself.

"This whole notion is ludicrous," the woman ranted. "The fact that I need to kill a huntress who has half of my skill and refuses to kill those that threaten her and everything around her. I could end you right now, it would be over by the time you blinked. Yet here I am, following some unwritten rules that I've forced upon myself to not slaughter you entirely. Athena and her lap dog question my loyalty, and they've sent me out to kill you. Pathetic." Neela's heart stopped and she felt a new chill fill her.  _Athena._

"Then why don't you?" Neela asked. She could feel the guns of the last two militants focused on her as they moved in slowly. "Why don't you kill me?" Ebony finally broke character, moving in a flash, Neela blocking her daggers with her sword and guiding her counter blow away with her free hand. They struggled against each other. Ebony chuckled and shook her head, her face becoming redder as she grunted and struggled against the girl.

"Do you wish to die?" She asked. "I don't want to kill you, because killing you will prove nothing. They still won't trust me and I will have spilled blood that could have been spared."

"Like the people in the cars that you murdered?" Neela asked as she shoved Ebony back. Neela struck quickly three times, Ebony meeting each one with her daggers, moving in after the third to counter, attempting to wrench the blade away with her claws. Neela grappled it in as it flew from her hands, ducking under a swing from Ebony's left hand clutching the daggers. Neela swung the sword at the end of her cable, slicing through Ebony's aura and causing her to leap back, disappearing into the shadows.  _She can become a shadow?_  Neela swiftly brought her sword in, flipping it out into a bow again and using a flashbang on the remaining gunmen, a solid blow to each of their heads knocking them out.

"They were human," Ebony replied. Her voice was all around Neela, she didn't know how to counter someone with such an ability! She felt Ebony as she left the shadows, the daggers dancing across her back. She arched her back and yelped in pain, turning and firing blindly but she was gone once again. "Their lives don't matter."

" _Hey, Neela!"_

"They're lives matter just as much as ours!" Neela shouted in reply. The air around Neela shifted and she felt an evil presence growing around her.

"Athena never told me you were delusional," Ebony stated. "Maybe she was right, maybe you do deserve to die." What did Athena know about her? As far back as Neela could remember, she had never met Adam's sister once. Neela used her semblance again but was only able to see Ebony as she was reappearing from her shadow phasing ability, and she narrowly escaped being hit again, grappling behind her and being pulled to the street, her hook had found a street lamp. Neela needed to get away, she couldn't do anything and the woman could hide in the… darkness! Neela looked up at the light above her. That was it! Ebony threw her daggers which Neela shot an arrow through the middle of the ring that connected them, Ebony let go at the risk of being jerked back with the weapon, the arrow pinning them to one of the trees.

Ebony phased out in a collapsing cloud of smoke as Neela ran through the blowing snow down the hill. As long as she was able to defend against the daggers and stayed under the street lights, she'd have no problem getting to the dock and using the emergency phone to at least contact the police. Granted, running to the actual police department would have been ideal as it was closer than her decided solution, but it was also a poorly lit path, and that's where her enemy thrived. Ebony appeared, glancing back at Neela who was sprinting away. She grumbled, pulling the arrow out to free her weapon and the tip detached from the shaft. Ebony looked it over in her hand for a moment before the tip exploded, throwing her onto her back.

Neela sprinted down the sidewalk, the icy path took her for a moment and she slid, allowing the ice to assist her escape, but left her feet as a car to her right erupted in flames, followed by three more. She spotted four more masked members and made a hard left into an alley which was less than desirable, but at this point, Ebony had to find her once again anyways. Neela slid to a stop, firing an earth arrow towards the direction she'd come from and filled the gap between the buildings with a large stone pillar.  _It should be enough to buy me more time._  She was satisfied with her handiwork and ran once again.

At that moment her destination changed. They'd expect her at the dock, which meant she had one option left, but it was on the far side of the city and to prevent the Fang from harming anyone else, she would have to avoid areas of high population and traffic. She'd have to risk it, she had no other choice.  _Grandpa Tai! Nice to see you! Funny story why I'm here actually… You see…_

"There you are!" Ebony exclaimed as she formed up from the shadows in front of Neela, blocking her exit back to the road. Neela scanned her surroundings, turning over every option in her mind. She could stay and try to fight the woman, the odds were against her, but they had an even playing field as far as remaining aura went, or at least Neela assumed so. She couldn't have been much older than Neela herself, but there was a crazed hunger similar to that of an animal that has meat dangled in front of it, only to constantly have it taken away, never once tasting it. Ebony watched Neela carefully. She knew good and well that the girl would make a move to grapple up to the rooftops, it would give her apt time to tie her up with her dagger and Dust string, she would force her violently back into the alley. Neela formed her sword.

"You remind me of someone," Neela said, her voice unwavering. Ebony was at the very least impressed by this girl's ability to remain strong despite the fact that she was far more powerful, and she knew that the girl had been traumatized by the Fang at an incredibly young age. "A woman with black hair and an awful attitude." Ebony's face crumpled in disgust and she phased forward quickly, moving faster than Neela had seen anyone move before, baring Ruby. It was as though her body had become a shadow itself, reforming in the instant before her daggers struck Neela's weapon, the woman fueled by too much rage and Neela didn't resist the blow but instead let it slide off of her sword, throwing out her foot. Ebony stumbled, Neela's hook gripping her leg and pulling her in, leaving her moments to phase into the shadow below in the dark alley, Neela sword swiping through the smoke remains.

"Don't compare me to Raven!" Ebony yelled, her voice once again enveloping Neela. Ebony struck out from the darkness, hitting Neela several times, the strikes were less than powerful enough to deter Neela or cause her body to move, but they were solid and each blow threatened her life, taking some of her aura every second. Neela grappled the top of a brick building to her left, swinging around at an awkward angle and letting her grapple do the rest. She drew her bow, shooting the daggers before they could snare her foot, another arrow missing Ebony by a few feet. "Get back…" Ebony was cut off by an explosion, screaming as she dove to the ground, the "misfired" arrow had struck a flashbang arrowhead that Neela had dropped on purpose in the confusion.  
Neela knelt for a long moment, catching her breath and gazing up at the storm that was blowing harder than before. Visibility was low and if anything, would give Neela the advantage as long as she could avoid any more shadows. She had no way to check her aura without her scroll, but judging by how labored her breathing was, she got the idea that it was running low. She hadn't felt so much adrenaline pumping through her since she would train almost daily with Yang and Blake back on Patch.  _Oh, Oum. This is bad. I can't tell Blake about this or she'll probably die of anxiety. I'll have to tell Yang though, she'll want to know. I made you proud mom, I kicked her ass!_

Neela's body shivered, her adrenaline allowed to slow as she'd given herself a moment to think, now realizing how cold out it actually was. The weather hadn't been bad that afternoon when she'd left for work, so it had never crossed her mind that she might need a coat that night. Through the snow, she could see fractals, fractured memories of her life with the Fang. She looked at her hands. These weren't the hands of a murder, they were the hands of a huntress. She would do what was right. She would protect the people that she loved. She would protect everyone. It was her duty under the mantle of Huntress. Neela made her way across the roof and used her hook to lower herself down to the street.

"You're clever," Ebony spoke. She was right behind Neela, giving Neela no time to turn around. The claws slammed into Neela's back and she cringed, jerking forward and swiftly moving away, spinning back to fire an arrow. Ebony snatched it from the air, snapping it in half and tossing it away. "I can see now why Athena was so angry about how things turned out. If your mothers hadn't been there, Athena would still have her brother. And now I will repay them for what they did. I will steal their pride and joy from them as well." Neela fired several more arrows rapidly, each deflecting off of a large orb that had formed around Ebony, pitch black. It slowly expanded and Neela ran once again for Tai's.

"Help!" Neela shouted. She had been calm and collected the entire rest of the fight, but she was sure that if the darkness emanating from Ebony reached her, something bad would happen. It seemed to be swallowing everything, Neela terrified at the thought of what was happening inside of the sphere. "Please! Help!"

"Your parents are weak," Ebony's voice thundered. "If only you had been trained by someone who had realized your full potential, your semblance might have already been at this level. This is my ultimate attack. A darkness that blinds everything that it surrounds. You will exist inside of it, but you will see nothing. And then, I will kill you." Neela stumbled, firing her hook and missing the lamp post, her body trembling too much for her to aim properly and the sphere opened past her, swallowing her up. She closed her eyes tight.

 _It was like I could see what he was going to do before he did it… It's my only chance, but what if it does permanent damage? What if I lose my semblance? Will I still be able to live up to my potential? Will I still be able to protect the people I love?_  In the madness that rampaged through her mind, a memory drifted to the forefront and took control.

"Neela!" Yang called out as she ran across the yard and checked her over. Neela had fallen out of the tree that she was playing in and had landed on her back, the wind knocked out of her and causing her to cry out in confusion. Yang scooped her up and carried her towards the cabin, setting her on the picnic table in the backyard and looking her over. "Little bird, what were you doing?" Neela grunted and looked at her knees which were scraped up, sniffing hard and wiping her eyes.

"I climbed the tree because I thought it would help me get stronger!" She exclaimed. "I want to get as strong as you and Blake so one day I can protect both of you when you're old and wrinkly!" Yang smirked and tickled the girl. "Hey!"

"Wrinkly huh?! You think I'm going to get all wrinkly?!" Yang growled playfully tickling her and making sure she stayed put on the table. "Did you have to climb the tallest tree little bird?"

"I have to get strong right away mom!" Neela exclaimed. "The small trees won't make me stronger." Yang laughed softly and picked Neela up, putting her on her shoulders.

"Hey!"

"Pretty tall up there?" Yang asked. Neela nodded and laughed.

"Yeah!" Neela exclaimed. Yang stepped up onto the bench and stood on it.

"Taller now?" Yang asked her.

"Of course!" Neela exclaimed. Yang sighed thoughtfully and set Neela down.

"So if being on my shoulders made you taller, why do you need to be on the table right away too? It's further to fall, and if you're not ready, it's harder to stay up that high," Yang explained. She knelt so that she was eye level with Neela. "Small steps Neela. Falling out of the shorter trees are still going to hurt, but it's not as far to fall. You can't get stronger if you get hurt too bad, you'll have to give up."

"As long as I have my semblance I'll be fine, mom!" Neela replied before bouncing away in excitement.

"You'd be just as amazing without it!" Yang called after her. "You're amazing no matter what."

 _I'm sorry, Yang. I know that you said not to push myself too hard, but if I don't here I might die, and that's a tree too tall to live from falling out of._  Neela found her feet as both of Ebony's daggers slammed into her chest, one on each side of her clavicle.

"Let this be a lesson to everyone who knew you," Ebony spoke. "Faunus and humans should not, and cannot live together in peace." Neela felt the warmth of her blood trickling from the site of the stab down her cleavage and across her stomach. She gritted her teeth and held her sword between the two of them, pointing it towards the ground and holding the hilt at chest level.

"I lived for far too long as a child in fear, wondering with every moment that passed if the humans were going to show up and put an end to our peaceful life in the woods. And they did. But then they did something unexpected. They spared me. Saved me. Held me. Made me feel safe. Put me back together. Loved me. And protected me… from people like you," Neela explained. "Here's what's going to happen. You can try and activate the lightning Dust in the string attached to the daggers before I get my attack off, or you can leave and I'll act as though this whole thing never happened. It's up to you." Ebony laughed.

"Desperation so soon? Is your aura really so fragile? I can feel it… hear it even. So close to giving out. Once it does it'll only take one well-placed blow from either of my weapons to kill you. So I think that I'll take my chances with my attack-" Before Ebony could finish her taunting Neela activated her weapon. It flipped out into a bow, the limb impaling Ebony as it swung out and Neela maneuvered out of the way. Neela lifted her high into the air, hoisting her up above her head before completing the arc and slamming Ebony on the ground behind her. She moved in a terrifyingly calculated manner, removing her bow from the woman and drawing an arrow, but Ebony faded into the darkness, becoming one with it.

"I will not die here!" Neela shouted. She activated her semblance, her body shaking as she focused, seeing Ebony rise up and attack her from behind before it happened. Neela spun around, her bow's limb slicing through the woman's shirt as she released the arrow on her follow through, planting it in the middle of her chest as she rolled away loading another arrow. Ebony grasped at it in shock, Neela firing a second that split the first, driving the initial tip deep in. Ebony faded again.

"You bitch!" She shouted. Neela waited, on her guard, knowing that Ebony was waiting for her aura to take care of the arrowhead, but also armed with the knowledge that Ebony's aura would soon be broken. Neela felt light-headed, stumbling to her left but remaining on her feet. She was pushing her eyes too hard, her semblance was draining her physical strength. She saw Ebony attack her from in front this time and she clumsily tried to attach a flashbang tip as Ebony leapt up from the shadows. Neela got it off but it sailed past Ebony, only to return a moment later and strike her in the right shoulder. It exploded, breaking her aura and deafening her in the process.  
 _What did she do? What was that? If my semblance picked up on everything else, why didn't I see how she did that? It doesn't matter. The pain is too much. Luckily the explosion of light and sound is what broke my aura and I won't have a scar. Why am I worried about that? This is where I die, isn't it? I don't feel so good…  
_

Ebony slowly made her way over to Neela, her chest heaving as she held a dagger in each hand, ready to deal the killing blow. She had nearly been destroyed by a child, but that didn't matter. All she cared about was winning. She would go back to Athena and report her victory… and perhaps kill Crimson before the week was through. Ebony inhaled sharply and brought down her blades, both of them striking a long narrow blade that swung up in a blinding flash, knocking the weapons away. Ebony glanced up and leapt back as she saw who had attacked.

"Raven?!" She shouted. "What the hell are you doing here?!" Raven looked down at Neela before returning her gaze to Ebony.

"I was taking a walk because I couldn't sleep, and here I find you all alone and close to death from fighting this frail little girl," Raven told her. She nudged Neela with her foot, but the girl didn't respond. "I'm disappointed in you. If the clan would have survived, you would have been my successor, but it appears you have much to learn at this point. Not underestimating your enemy would be a good place to start. She was strong enough that you freed your tail I see. Too distracting in a battle to leave it tucked between your legs I suppose, but I'm guessing you like how it feels rubbing against your-"

"Enough!" Ebony yelled enraged. Raven cocked her hip and smirked as she sheathed her sword, finding amusement in her old protégé as the girl used her Dust strings to draw her daggers back in.

"You're not going to fight me in that condition, are you?" Raven inquired. "I could put an end to your pathetic life blindfolded right now. Or do you plan on using that 'ultimate attack' bullshit on me? Go ahead then, let's finish this."

"We will return soon Raven, and I will kill you," Ebony explained. Raven rolled her eyes.

"I know. Besides the council, Benjamin and I are the only major threats, and whatever else is being said." Raven took a step forward which prompted Ebony to step back. "You're so afraid, and yet I still see a determination in your eyes. Is it that you're more worried about what will happen when you return to Athena a failure?"

"As if," Ebony spat. Raven placed her hand on the hilt of her katana.

"If we meet again, I will strike you down," Raven told her. She unsheathed her sword and swung as Ebony cast out both of her daggers, destroying the street lights and allowing her to disappear into the seemingly endless shadow cast by the storm. Raven sheathed her blade once more and looked down at Neela for a long moment, an image of Yang as a baby flashed through her mind and she could only bring herself to stare.

"Neela!" Came a shout that caught Raven's attention. She looked up at the alleyway to see Coco and Velvet coming towards her. Both of them stopped for a moment, looking at Raven and unsure what to do, Coco training her gun on her. Raven looked back down at Neela, slowly lifting her and carrying her to Coco. Coco lowered her weapon, taking Neela in her arms and watching Raven, unable to find anything to say.

"This was the work of Ebony, a young girl that I trained who is now working with the White Fang," Raven said quietly. She stared into Coco's eyes. "Don't tell Yang that I was here."

"Wait!" Velvet called out, but Raven had already disappeared through a portal and left them in a stunned silence laced with confusion. "Now what?"

"We take her to the hospital first," Coco told Velvet. "Thank Oum I installed the trackers on the lockers and that you were here to sniff her out." Velvet gave a single nod and they headed for the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neela made it out by the skin of her teeth. Will the White Fang attack again before Neela can properly prepare herself? Next week, Chapter 44 - Nonsense and Pep Talks!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	48. Nonsense and Pep Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There seems to be a hostage situation in the dorms, but is all as it seems?

Neela glanced over her textbook, desperately trying to study and get any of the information to soak in, but she was failing miserably. Sleep had not been on speaking terms with her recently, and after the scare with Ebony two weeks ago, she wasn't sure that she'd be able to sleep normally for a while even if she wanted to. That fight had turned out better than she could have hoped, she had at least lived through it. When she woke the next morning she found Coco and Velvet by her bedside, she pled with Coco not to tell Blake and Coco agreed. It was the last thing that her mom needed on her plate. Neela rolled her eyes in a typical teenage manner as the doctor informed her that she should be more careful and that he was surprised to find that the majority of the issue was exhaustion.

Of course, she hadn't told anyone that she had pushed her semblance that hard, and she'd also told no one that when she tried to use her power lightly it gave her a splitting headache. She was sure that she'd be able to use it again normally at some point, but it was going to take time. The library door closest to the table she sat at opened up and there stood Eliana, her arms wrapped around Ivory's neck and smiling.

"Did you see the look on Vinny's face when we told him?" Eliana asked lighting up. Neela slowly stood and watched in horror as the two kissed. She glanced over at Neela and smiled, the same way as always. "Hey, Neela! I don't think that I've had a chance to introduce you and Ivory yet."

"No!" Neela screamed.

"Neela!" Titus shouted, snapping her out of the daydream. She glanced over at him, she was still sitting at the table with Lykos, Bái, and Titus, studying for their last exams before the winter break would begin. Titus watched her with concern as she glanced at the three of them, trying to act as if nothing had happened.

"What?" She asked pretending not to know.

"You just shouted 'No!' and we don't know why," Bái told her. Neela looked down at her textbook, the words swimming around the page as fatigue kept her from focusing on the information. She shook her head trying to free her mind, but it didn't seem to help and she sighed, closing the book.

"Did I?" Neela asked sounding pained. Titus grabbed her arm tenderly and she looked at it for a long moment before glancing up at him. It was crazy to think that they'd come this far. He'd hated her to begin with, he didn't think that she was fit to lead, and his issues with past leaders had made him insecure towards everyone around him. Now he was trying to comfort her and she appreciated it more than he knew.

"What happened?" He asked. "You can always talk to us."

"I know," she replied. "I'm just dealing with a lot of stress with the White Fang being back and trying to balance school and my job, not to mention being nervous about Eliana because of that new Faunus girl being around and…"

"You think she's White Fang?" Lykos asked. Titus chuckled as he removed his hand.

"That's not what she's worried about," Titus stated. "You're worried that Ivory has a thing for Eliana, aren't you?" Neela flushed and stood.

"Or the other way around," Neela admitted sheepishly. Titus stood as well, collecting his own books as the last two followed suit.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much Neela," Titus told her. "Eliana just wanted to feel how soft Ivory's wings are. That's why she went with Ilia to meet Team IVRY the other day. I went yesterday with Ilia and met them all as well. They seem nice enough, though Rowan is a little standoffish and Yvonne seems very full of herself. Ilia doesn't like meeting with Vincent alone. She's not sure if she trusts him yet or not, but I'm sure she'll overcome that at some point."

"So there's nothing going on between Eliana and Ivory?" Neela asked embarrassed that she'd been worried about it in the first place. Titus laughed and led them out into the hallway, walking to the building entrance and leaving, the outside world covered in snow, small forts built along the sidewalk and scattered across the lawn, barrages of snowballs and other icy projectiles flying about.

"No, I'd say that Ivory has a thing for somebody else," Titus said with a wink. Neela thought it over, Ilia had mentioned that Ivory and Vincent used to date. Titus grumbled as they neared the dorm. "Look at all these careless and juvenile upperclassman. Playing in the snow when they could be studying or training." Neela smiled at him and laughed. "What?"

"There's the Titus that we know and love," Neela told him. They opened the door to the dorm to find police tape scattered about the hallway and a commotion in the rec room. They all looked at each other with confusion and walked slowly down the hall, peering into the game room, finding Neptune, Sun, and Neo talking with each other, Neo stood with her back turned towards the kids. Sun and Neptune wore fake mustaches and aviators, and all three of them wore police uniforms. "What in the name of Salem's realm is going on here?"

"Something serious happened here?" Lykos asked. Titus sighed.

"I doubt it," Titus replied.

"Something kinky?" Bái suggested. They all grew wide-eyed and glanced at her. "What?" Titus looked her up and down repeatedly in disbelief before shaking his head and stepping into the room with Neela behind him. The three teachers turned and looked at them, Neptune and Sun posing and thrusting their badges towards them.

"Stop right there!" Sun exclaimed. "We're detectives with the Beacon Police Department!"

"And you know we're legit because we have badges!" Neptune added.

"And mustaches!" Sun further explained. Neo turned around and posed as well, revealing her mustache and aviators, a smirk on her face as she nodded.

"Beacon doesn't have a police department," Neela said.

"Oh really?!" Sun shouted. "Then where did we get these badges?"

"And these mustaches?!" Neptune cried out. Neo pointed to her sunglasses, striking another dramatic pose.

"Seriously, what's going on?" Lykos asked. Bái watched on, her eyes lighting up and filled with wonder.

"The chief told us to stay down here and await further orders, but we may need to interrogate the two of you!" Sun exclaimed pointing at Lykos and Bái.

"No," Lykos replied dryly, turning to leave and head up the stairs.

"Where do you think you're going?" Neptune asked. Neo teleported into the way and blocked the steps. "No one's allowed up there!"

"Your floor is on lockdown!" Sun informed them.

"Lockdown!" Neptune parroted. Lykos looked back at Neo and she nodded.

"Lockdown for what?" Neela asked.

"It would seem that there is currently an ongoing investigation into a hostage situation taking place in Team CBLT's room and there are several suspects involved, including but not limited to; Ilia, Tawney, Eliana, and Cobalt," Neptune told them. Neela raised an eyebrow.

"Who did they take hostage?" Bái asked still full of awe.

"Classified," Neptune said shooting her down. "The four of you are free to stay here until the situation is under control." Neo rapped her umbrella on the floor three times and Sun and Neptune immediately stood at attention, holding a salute as boots could be heard coming from the direction of the front door. Neela and Titus turned back to see Coco standing in the doorway in full uniform, including a hat, with Velvet standing beside her. Velvet was also uniformed, wearing Coco's usual sunglasses, and taking notes. Bái nudged Neela, forcing her to turn and look at the girl, a wicked look in her eye.  _Something kink… Oh God No!_ Neela spotted the handcuffs on Coco's hip and raised her hand, placing her free hand to her mouth.

"You all enjoy this," Neela replied. "I'll be in the bathroom across the hall." She pointed to it and squeezed through the door past Coco.

"Officers Neo, Sun, and Neptune. I trust that this building is secure?" Coco inquired.

"As soon as Officer Yang arrives we'll have total control over all of the building's exits," Sun informed her. "Yang will be stationed at the building's front door, through which you just entered."

"Good work Sun. Has the perpetrator attempted to make contact yet?" She asked. Neptune shook his head.

"No, ma'am. We gave him ten minutes to decide on his terms of negotiation or surrender, but it's been at least fifteen minutes now with no response. At this point, we can only hope that the hostage is still alive," Neptune explained. She slammed her fist against the wall and took off the aviators, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Hope isn't good enough, we need proof that he's still alive dammit!" Coco shouted. Velvet held her scroll out to Coco who looked at it for a long moment, taking a deep breath. Titus had moved to one of the couches, he had no choice now but to watch it unfold. He glanced across the room at Lykos who still stood at the bottom of the stairs.

"Join me?" Titus asked. Lykos shrugged and moved across the room, taking Bái by the arm and also leading her to the couch.

"Does anyone have the tap so that we all know what's going on?" Velvet asked. Neo nodded, teleporting away and reappearing moments later with a wireless speaker. Coco nodded, rubbing her head and configuring the scroll before making the call. The scroll rang and tension blanketed the room as Coco motioned for Sun and Neptune to move upstairs to the next floor. Sun left a clone behind at the bottom of the steps.

"Tawney, have you decided on your terms of surrender?" Coco asked, her breath heavy as sweat beaded on her brow. Cobalt laughed into the scroll, cackling maniacally and no doubt throwing his head back. Coco slammed her fist against the doorway and clenched her jaw. "Damn, I should have known."

"You all thought that Tawney was the mastermind behind this plot, but it was me! Cobalt!" He exclaimed.

"Was that another anime reference?" Tawney asked in the background.

"Silence!" Cobalt replied. There was a temporary struggle that could be heard and Cobalt cried out in abrupt pain before clearing his throat. "We have come up with our terms, but we will not be surrendering. We will get what we desire. I'm more than willing to negotiate, but I never expected that they'd pull out the big guns and put you on this case, Officer Adel." Coco's eyes grew narrow and she trembled.

"So you've heard of me?" She asked.

"It's more than that. It's more than you can imagine. I'm the one who personally snuck into the teacher's lounge this morning. I am the one that took him hostage. I am the one who drank the last of the coffee and didn't make a new pot," he informed her. She gasped in horror.

"You bastard! You'll pay for what you've done!" She yelled into the scroll.

"Coco, don't let your emotions get in the way!" Velvet shouted at her. Coco looked up at her for a long moment before looking back at the scroll.

"You're right Officer Bunbun. Thank you for keeping me in line, I might have done something that I'd regret," Coco told her. She placed the device to her ear once more. "How did you do it? How did you kidnap him?"

"It was simple. Eliana was her ditsy self, distracting Secretary Camellia as Tawney, Ilia and I, snuck in. Tawney fought valiantly, keeping Neo preoccupied enough to let us reach our objective, deep in enemy territory. Ilia rode my body using her semblance until we reached the lounge, guarding the door as I set part two of my plan into motion. Using one of my clones as a decoy we were all able to make it out and return to our secret base, though I'm not sure how you found it so quickly," Cobalt explained. Coco smirked and chuckled.

"I have my sources," she replied. "Before we make any kind of agreement, I want to see him. I need to be sure that he's still alive. Now." Cobalt laughed and shifted.

"Of course," he complied. Coco looked at the scroll and Cobalt's showed her live video of the hostage. A cherry cheesecake sat in the middle of the table.

"Don't worry! You'll be fine, they aren't going to hurt you, mama's coming!" Coco yelled. "Tell me what you see! Are there more than four?! Are they armed?!" The feed died and Coco shook with rage as Cobalt placed the scroll back to his ear. "Put him back on."

"You'll see him again soon enough, but now I think it's time to negotiate. You might want to comply quickly, my subordinates are getting hungry," Cobalt pressed her.

"Alright fine!" Coco yelled frantically. "Anything! What do you want?"

"A bigger selection of manga in the librar-" There was a crash and the sound of resistance, grunts came through the scroll and Coco's eyes became intense and she tried imagining the scene.

"I did not steal a cheesecake from the teachers just so that you could get some more of your stupid ass picture books in the library!" Tawney shouted. Ilia managed to grab the scroll up in the commotion.

"We demand extra credit on the end of the pre-winter break exams," Ilia told her. Cobalt and Tawney both glanced up at her from the floor, silent. Coco gritted her teeth and swore under her breath.

"There's only one problem with that," Coco told them. Neo took off up the stairs as Sun's clone gave the thumbs up.

"What's that?" Cobalt called out.

"I don't negotiate with terrorists." Coco could hear the door slam open, chaos ensuing as she handed the scroll back to Velvet and ran quickly up the stairs.

"We're taking you punks in!" Sun yelled as he tackled Ilia. Eliana grabbed the cheesecake and threw the window open, glancing back at the door.

"Halt!" Neptune shouted being tackled by Cobalt. Neo rushed in but Ilia managed to grab her leg and struggled to take her body.

"You can do it!" Cobalt yelled to Eliana as she glanced down to the snow-covered yard below. "Don't give up on the dream of excellent literature!"

"Extra credit you dumbass!" Tawney shouted at him. Coco reached the doorway, staring at Eliana for a long moment that seemed to happen in slow motion as Eliana smirked and leapt out of the window, Coco running through the room, navigating the chaos before reaching the window to find that Eliana had safely reached the ground below. Coco gripped the windowsill, turning around and moving quickly down the stairs, nearly knocking over Velvet who was on her way up. She tore out of the building, running past Neela who'd finally come out of the bathroom and slowly moved to the door to watch Coco give chase.

"Hey, little bird!" Yang exclaimed as Neela stepped out. She turned and looked at her mother standing beside her… in full uniform.

"Not you too!" Neela screamed running back in and to her room.

"Stop!" Coco yelled as she chased Eliana through the snowball war that had grown even larger than before, prompting Coco to take cover momentarily as she found herself caught in the crossfire of a team that was using their semblances to send high impact projectiles at their opponent's fort. Eliana stopped for a moment, crouching in an abandoned fort to catch her breath and check the cheesecake. Still intact and in one piece. If she had to keep this up it would surely end up mangled, something that neither side wanted. She placed it on the ground, covering it in snow and freezing in place as Coco called out.

"I'll cut you a deal, Eliana! You're a smart girl, you don't need that extra credit, do you? But I saw the way that you looked at that dessert. Doesn't it look delicious? Just think of how tart the cherries are, and how smooth and creamy the cream cheese is. You'd like to have a slice, wouldn't you? How much is your mouth watering?" Coco asked. Eliana slowly moved to stand but felt something drive her back to her knees. She couldn't give up, her friends needed that extra credit… but the cake did look amazing. What was she supposed to do?

"I can't do that!" Eliana shouted. Coco turned towards the fort and transformed her purse into its gun form.

"I admire your tenacity," Coco admitted before opening fire and mowing down the fort, forcing Eliana to hit the ground for cover. As Coco walked towards Eliana, she noted someone out of the corner of her eye, the laser blasting into her as Cobalt swept in and wrenched the cake out from under Eliana.

"You'll never take me alive!" He shouted taking off. Coco looked back up at the window.

"How did you two let Cobalt get away?" She demanded.

"It turns out the one up here was the clone!" Sun replied. Eliana looked up at Coco who came over to help her up.

"You'll never break me!" Eliana told her. Coco extended her hand helping her up.

"You made it as convincing as you had to," Coco told her. "Good work. Where's the real cake?" Eliana smiled.

"I told Camellia what their plan was. Neo swapped out the cakes before they were able to sneak through the administrative department, the real one is in the mini fridge under Camellia's desk. That cake's just a pan full of cherries," Eliana explained. "I figured I would tip you off, Cobalt had mentioned last night that he saw you arrive from Vale with some items for the teacher's lounge and that he was determined to steal the cake."

"So, you still want a slice?" Coco asked. Eliana's eyes lit up.

"That would be amazing!"

* * *

"Neela asked you not to tell me, didn't she?" Blake asked Coco as they sat down in Glynda's office. Blake sat at the headmistress's desk, rubbing it gently as Coco sat across from her and glanced back to make sure that the door had been locked behind them. Glynda had already left for her winter vacation so they wouldn't need to worry about any intrusions.

"Of course she did, Blake," Coco told her. "You've been a wreck ever since you found out that the White Fang is back. You can hardly even teach your classes without having some kind of outburst. We're all worried about you. Especially Yang and Neela. They hate seeing you like this. Maybe it's because they're also dealing with their own demons." Coco looked out at the schoolyard below. "I still see it. I still see this job being yours someday. You have a natural desire to teach, to let these kids know that they're more than enough. Just like the potential you saw in Neela."

"It wasn't the first thing I saw in her you know," Blake told her. "The first thing that I saw in Neela's eyes was me. I had been there myself as a child. Deathly afraid of humans. Angry at a world that had rejected me. Terrified that one day someone would come in and end it all. I didn't want Neela to have to live in that kind of world, but now they're back and they're after us specifically. And I'm sure it hurts her. I'm sure she's terrified that the Fang are coming. I'm sure she's angry about how the Fang goes about doing things and how it gives her and other Faunus a bad name. And I'm sure that if things go wrong, she might come to fear humans again."

"She's strong Blake," Coco told her. "I don't want to sound like a broken record, but sometimes I feel as though you need constant reassuring."

"How do you just forget Coco?" She asked. "How do you forget the pain that nearly destroyed you, forget an ideology that turned you into the monster that you didn't want them to see you as? I know you can't discuss it, but I know vaguely of Salem's War. They say it was a bloodbath. How did you just forget about it?"

"I'll never forget about it Blake," Coco said quietly and solemnly. "But I couldn't let it control me. If I let the entire rest of my life hinge on something as large as Salem's War and the mistakes that I might have made during it, I wouldn't be able to function, and that's what's happening to you." Coco stood. "I'm not saying that you need to forget, but for your sake, your family's, and your students', you need to move on."

"It's not that simple," Blake responded standing.

"You're right," Coco said. "But you need to remember who you are. You are Blake Xiao Long. Children in history classes across Remnant look at the team that saved the world from Salem, Team RWBY, and they think 'Wow. I hope that someday I'll be as strong as Ruby, or Weiss, or Yang… or Blake.' They look at all four of you, not just one of you. None of you could have taken her alone, and you are not alone now, you just need to remember that. Yang is still beside you like she was the first time that you ended the Fang. Afraid for Shadow? Understandable, but you can protect her as you did with Neela the day you rescued her."

"I know," Blake said. "But…"

"No. There is no 'but'. There can't be. You defeated everything that has ever been placed on your path on the way to the happiness you have now! Fight Blake. Train with these students like your life depends on it, and when Athena finally shows herself, I can only imagine that you and Yang will strike down the last Taurus as you did Adam. Together." Coco's chest heaved. "We're all here. Everyone on this staff. The kingdom. The council. You are not alone this time Blake, and we won't let you be." Blake tried to find the words to protest, but they wouldn't come out.

"Did you know that they were back? The White Fang?" Blake asked. They stood in silence for a long moment, Coco had turned towards the door.

"Only for a few weeks before you discovered it," Coco told her. "Let's not fight each other Blake. Let's fight together." Blake nodded and exited in front of Coco, leaving her there for a moment.

"I'm going to call Neela to check on her," Blake told her. "Thanks for talking with me." Coco smiled and nodded.

"Anytime," Coco replied as Blake closed the door behind her. Coco clinched her teeth and gripped her chest, seething as tears formed along her eyelids.  _Dammit, why did she have to bring it up?_  Coco reached into one of her pockets and shook the pill bottle that she'd removed. There were a few left, and she'd definitely need help sleeping tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week, Neela and Eliana share a moment under the Mistletoe?! Chapter 45 - Winter Festival!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	49. Winter Festival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teams NITE and CBLT go into town to do some shopping and exchange gifts when they get back to the dorms!

"Finally!" Eliana exclaimed as she skipped ahead of her teammates towards the cliff, pulling her coat closer to her body and turning around to make sure that they were keeping up with her. "I didn't think that classes were ever going to end today! Also, did anyone else think that the last question on the Grimm Studies exam was a trick question?"

"What makes you say that?" Neela asked, noting that Titus and Ilia were both preoccupied with their scrolls. She shook her head.

"The question asked how many different Grimm there are in Remnant, but how can we know? What if there are more? The study guide was based off of a report from Dr. Oobleck that is close to twenty years old, how do we know that there haven't been new ones since then?" Eliana asked.

"That study was the last published by Oobleck. It was the penultimate edition. Without Salem there can't be any new Grimm, only the same ones we already have can be born, or however that works with Grimm," Titus explained. "Wasn't that also in the study guide?"

"Maybe," Eliana replied dejectedly. They walked closer to the cliff in silence for a few moments before Eliana piped up again. "I think we should have a gift exchange between the four of us!" They all glanced at each other as they stopped and shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" Ilia agreed. "How are we choosing names?"

"I just figured that Neela and I would buy for each other and the two of you could buy for each other," Eliana explained. Neela laughed. Eliana was such a free spirit, wasn't she?

"Should have seen that one coming," Titus muttered under his breath.

"Awww, afraid that my gift is going to blow yours out of the water?" Ilia asked Titus teasingly.

"As if," he scoffed. "I'll have you know that out of all the gifts that my mother received every year, she always enjoyed mine the most."

"Macaroni necklace," Ilia said as she began walking again and the other two girls followed.

"What?" He called after them running to catch up.

"You strike me as the kind of kid that probably made his mom a macaroni necklace every year," Ilia told him as they boarded the airship.

"Haha. You're hilarious. Just the funniest," he replied sarcastically. Eliana laughed and moved to the window. Every time that they flew anywhere, Eliana wanted to be able to see the water below, and Neela was sure that it had something to do with Eliana's father.

"Every year for Winter Festival my mom would give me some money and I would run to a nearby village and buy ammo for my dad. Normally vendors wouldn't sell ammunition to children, but they knew my dad and they knew who I was and so they let me do it and I felt so special, my heart light and my eyes mystified as I would run home as quickly as I could so my mom could wrap it. My dad was always so happy when he opened it every year!" Eliana exclaimed smiling.

"What did your mom normally get him?" Neela asked.

"Dad was usually busy all the time, so when he was able to have off for Winter Festival, my mom would make him a home cooked meal to show him how much she cared about him," Eliana replied.

"What's so special about a home cooked meal? Didn't she normally do that if he was home?" Ilia asked. She wasn't mocking, she was legitimately curious.

"Well yeah, she made him home-cooked meals whenever he was home," Eliana said quietly. Her eyes moistened as she looked out at the water, trying desperately to see Vale from the corner of the window. "We were poor, but we made it work with what we had. It wasn't any different than the other meals she normally made, roast and potatoes. But every time…" Eliana gasped and turned to look at Neela. Neela felt her heartbreak, Eliana's face twisted in agony as she cried and threw herself against Neela's chest. Ilia and Titus watched in shocked silence, unsure what to say. "Every Winter Festival he would say… 'Violet, that was the best roast I've ever had.' And my mom would smile… and it was enough!" Eliana sobbed into Neela's chest and Neela held her close. "I'm sorry Neela."

"It's okay Elli," Neela told her. Titus moved over to them, rubbing Eliana's shoulder and looking at Neela who smiled at him.

"I'm sorry Eliana, I…" Eliana freed herself from Neela's bosom and turned towards Ilia, smiling despite the tears and mucus running down her face.

"It's okay!" Eliana exclaimed wiping her nose. "It's a happy memory, really!" Eliana looked back out the window again. "I miss you." It was barely audible, but Neela's Faunus ears picked up on it. "What about you Neela?"

"Yes, what did our great and awesome leader get for her mothers?" Titus asked with a smirk. Neela scoffed.

"One year Yang convinced me to buy a ball of yarn for Blake," Neela admitted. Ilia burst out into laughter and Titus turned red in the face trying to contain his own.

"What?!" Ilia exploded. "Are you serious?!" Neela laughed.

"Yeah! Blake acted grateful because she didn't want to hurt my feelings, but she was none too pleased," Neela explained.

"Your mom Yang is too much!" Ilia said still laughing. They all laughed about it for a moment longer before a silence set in and the airship neared the dock. "Nobody wants to ask me?"

"We just thought…" Neela tried to explain but Ilia raised a hand.

"It's okay," Ilia told her. "It's not a gift that I bought for my parents, but a gift that my dad bought me before he turned into an asshole." Ilia tried to laugh about it, but it was painstakingly clear to them that she was hurting. "He bought me a mirror when I was a little girl and told me that if I was ever missing my mother, that I could just look into it because I looked so much like her," Ilia smirked before frowning. "I used to look into that mirror a lot after she first died, but then that bastard smashed it."

"Ilia…" Eliana tried to offer comfort but Ilia stood and brushed past Neela towards the door.

"I said it's okay, didn't I?" Ilia replied defensively. They stood on the dock, watching the commotion around them as people left and arrived, the crowd larger than it normally was. Winter Festival was just around the corner, and the shopping district in Vale capitalized on the fact by opening every shop and stand early and closing them later than usual, discounting everything available in order to turn a quick profit as most people weren't finished shopping at this point, despite the holiday being less than two weeks away.

"Wow!" Eliana exclaimed. "Look at the lights!" She took off without them for the main drag and they slowly followed, Eliana laughing as she spun around and took in all of the sights. Neela's mind flashed to the dark stormy night, imagining a flaming bus sliding down the hill and crashing at the bottom as it reached the docks. She shook it off and kept on slowly, trying to act as normal as possible.

"So if you're not working over the winter break, what are your plans?" Titus asked Neela. Neela watched Eliana and smirked as she looked back at him.

"Elli and I are going to spend it on Patch with her mom and my family," Neela told them. "See where things go from there." Ilia and Titus glanced at each other and kept their eyes on her as she once again watched Eliana.

"Going to tell her finally?" Ilia asked. Neela stopped and her face grew dark for a fleeting moment.

"I shouldn't risk what I've got now, right? I mean, I was acting like a lunatic for two weeks when I thought that she was with Ivory, but I should just be content being her friend if that's what she wants," Neela told them, trying to convince herself. "Right?"

"I've never met anyone more in denial," Titus told her. Neela stumbled back as if she'd been shot. "Clueless." Another step. "Confused." Another step. "Knows exactly what she wants yet has no clue." She fell back into the snow behind her. Titus reached his hand out and helped her up, brushing her off. "You need to tell her Neela." She looked up at him, he shook his head in disbelief as he always did.

"I know," she replied quietly. "It's just…"

"What are we talking about?" Eliana asked standing behind them. Neela screamed and dove forward, landing in more snow and Ilia, Titus, and Eliana exchanged glances. "Is she okay?"

"In a manner of speaking," Ilia replied. Eliana helped Neela up this time and they walked together again towards the shopping district.

"What about you?" Neela asked after calming down. "What are you going to do over the break?"

"As a high ranking officer in the Atlas Military, I was invited to attend a Mantle charity ball that will be taking place at the Schnee residence," Titus explained to her, puffing out his chest and sounding pompous. "Ilia will be going with me as my plus one seeing as I don't have anyone, and she doesn't really have a home to return to."

"I've already told you that I'm not dancing with you," Ilia reminded him.

"You think I want to dance with you?" Titus asked. Eliana laughed.

"Alright you two lovebirds, break it up," Neela told them. "So that we don't know what we're getting each other, we'll need to split up. I'll go with Ilia and Titus can accompany Elli. Sound good?" Ilia nodded and Titus shrugged.

"I feel like I'm always just along for the ride," Titus said as Eliana whisked him away.

"Just shut up and have some fun!" Ilia called back to him. "He complains more than anyone else I've met in my entire life!"

"Tell me about it," Neela agreed. Neela walked with Ilia for a few moments until she was sure that Titus and Eliana were out of earshot and moved in close to Ilia as she looked over a selection of scarves on one of the vendor's stands. "What are you getting Titus?"

"Pfft. A macaroni necklace of course," Ilia said without showing any signs of joking. Neela snickered and shook her head.

"Don't you think you could maybe give him something that has a little more use?" Neela asked.

"For Mr. Modern Major General? Nah, I think the noodles will do just fine," Ilia replied. "I don't want him to think that I care too much."

"I do  _not_  think he'll get that impression," Neela said. Ilia smiled and moved on to the next stand.

"Good," Ilia said and she picked up a small leather sack, unzipping it and examining it.

"What are you getting for Vincent and Ivory," Neela asked. She laughed but it almost came off as a nervous chuckle. "Titus made it sound like Ivory is still very much attached to Vincent." Ilia chuckled and set the sack back down, picking up another that was slightly bigger.

"I don't know why he'd think that, Ivory fights with him constantly, but she's always really nice to me. I guess they just have conflicting personalities. No, but she's fun and energetic. She and I went out the other night to gossip about Vincent," Ilia explained. Neela's eyes went narrow as she looked back towards the direction that Eliana and Titus had headed.  _Ivory has a thing for somebody else…_  Ohhh… "Do you think that he'd prefer an ammo sack or a scarf? I get all hot and bothered by a guy wearing a scarf."

"I guess the scarf then," Neela told her in agreement. Ilia nodded.

"What do you plan on getting Eliana?" Ilia prodded. "Something that says 'I love you, but I'm never going to tell you because if I do and you say no then I will probably die of the deepest and darkest depression imaginable, but if you say yes my heart will explode with excitement and contentment unlike anything I've ever known before with the exception of the day that I was adopted?' Sound accurate enough?"

"Haha," Neela chortled with snark. "You're a very on the nose kind of person aren't you?" Neela looked away in thought. "Then again you didn't have a problem asking Vin out, did you?"

"It's different with me I guess," Ilia offered as she moved back to the stall selling the scarves and looked them over once more. "I don't have an issue with asking, I just have issues after they say yes. A fear that they'll end up being like my dad and leave me for some stupid reason." She glanced at Neela. "You don't have issues with trust Neela, you just have issues with committing. You have to know that you want it badly enough that you're willing to risk it all. That's the first step."

"But what if everything changes?" Neela asked. Ilia paid for the scarf and spit out a bout of fake laughter at Neela.

"You're kidding right?" Ilia asked. "Whether or not Eliana says yes or no, she'll still be at your side all day, wondering what you're doing, how you're feeling, what you're thinking. She thinks too highly of you to let any of that ever stop. You should see how lost she looks when you're off at work. So what can it hurt to ask her? She says no, so what, you can both move on. And if she says yes, I'm going to have to buy earplugs because I don't want to hear any of it late at night." Neela blushed and hit Ilia.

"Ilia!" Neela shouted.

"What?" Ilia asked coyly. "I'm guessing she's a moaner."

"Ilia!"

* * *

"So, what are you going to get for Ilia?" Eliana asked as they stepped into one of the shops so that they could get out of the cold. It was a music store, which wasn't anyone on Team NITE's thing, but they could pretend to browse for a couple of minutes as they warmed themselves up.

"That is a surprise," Titus said winking at Eliana who laughed.

"Cool! I bet it'll be something awesome!" Eliana exclaimed. "So, what was it like being in the military? I mean, I know you still are being lieutenant general and all, but did you go on a lot of dangerous missions? Have you killed anyone? Is that really the reason you know how to dance so well? Am I asking too many questions? I feel like I might be, but you and I don't really get to talk to each other all that often, you know?" Titus smirked at her and puffed his chest out again.

"It was an honor to serve and still serve, being a member of the Atlas Military gives me a purpose and an outlet to protect the people that I care about and my homeland. I do it not for the recognition or privilege that comes with being a high ranking military officer, but for the knowledge that I have done everything in my power to protect all of humankind," he told her. She snickered.

"Sounds like something off of a recruitment pamphlet," she told him. He felt the wind knocked out of him as she walked away.

"That  _was_  off of the recruitment pamphlet," he mentioned under his breath.

"What about the rest of my questions?" Eliana pried, spotting Cobalt on the far end of the store.

"Well, the last training mission that I had with Admon was probably the most dangerous thing that I've ever done. I'd rather not talk about how many people I've killed. Yes, that is the reason that I can dance-" She cut him off.

"So you have killed someone!?" She shouted. Everyone in the store glanced at them, Cobalt included. He looked frantic and shielded his face with his coat as he walked over to the counter.

"Can you keep it down Eliana, people are going to get the wrong idea," Titus pleaded.

"I'm sorry!" She gasped exasperated. "I just can't believe that!"

"It's okay," he reassured her as they left the store. "So, what do you plan on getting for Neela then?" Eliana beamed at him with a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

"A picture frame!" Eliana told him. "I want her to have a picture frame so that we can put a picture of our team in it. That way when she gets nervous, upset, or anxious about the White Fang being back, she can look at it and know that we're always there for her, even when things get rough." Titus nodded.

"Not a bad idea," Titus said.  _So she can be serious._

"Yeah, and I'm getting Blake a ball of yarn!" Eliana burst out into laughter and Titus rolled his eyes.  _For a moment anyway._ "Titus, when you asked me the other day if I had a thing for Neela… Why were you asking?" Titus swallowed hard and looked directly ahead as they walked, despite her looking up and staring at the side of his head.  _Think man, think!_

"It just seems like you two are really close," he told her. "I thought maybe there was more to it than the two of you just being really good friends, but it's possible that I misread the situation. Hell, maybe my unconscious was projecting my own feelings into the scenario, maybe I secretly have feelings for Neela."

"I know that's not it," Eliana replied. "You said that you think of us as no more than sisters, and I know that it's the truth." Eliana stared up at the ice blue sky, pulling her coat tight to her body. "Neela means more to me than anything or anyone in this world. That's the beginning and end of it. I'll stay with her for as long as I can. She's my everything." Titus stared down at Eliana. How? How was it possible that Eliana felt the exact same as Neela, but didn't know it? Was it that Eliana didn't fully realize the depth of her own feelings? Was this not the same as Neela's feelings, was he mistaken? He couldn't tell her how Neela felt if he valued his life, so he kept it to himself. Did Eliana not know how to love someone like that…? No, that wasn't it. He had heard the story about Eliana's father, she knew full well how to love like that. Maybe for Eliana, it was just enough to be close. But what if the same didn't hold true for Neela when it was all said and done.

"Does Neela know that?" Titus asked. Eliana stopped and looked at him.

"Of course," Eliana said without a sliver of doubt. Titus smiled softly.

"Good," he replied as they continued on. Two girls that felt exactly the same about each other, and yet, different. There weren't words to describe his confusion on the matter. The best that any of them could do was let it run its course, and hope that both of the girls made it out without heartbreak.

"What do you think Ilia's going to get you?" Eliana asked.

"A macaroni necklace."

* * *

"Alright, now what?!" Eliana asked. "We're all done shopping, but it's not even dark yet. I don't want to go back to the dorm until this day has realized its full potential!"

"Have any ideas?" Ilia asked.

"No, that's why I asked," Eliana responded sheepishly. "How about it fearless leader Neela?! Do we go back, or do you have an idea for what we can do?" Neela glanced about the park until she spotted an ice skating rink in the middle and she looked back at them smiling.

"Ice skating?" Neela asked. Titus shook his head and folded his arms.

"Nope," he said.

"Why not?" Ilia asked.

"Too cliché!" He stated. Ilia grabbed his arm and dragged him into the park.

"Do you ever stop complaining?" Ilia asked. Neela and Eliana laughed at him.

"But what if I twist my ankle?" He asked.

"You can ballroom dance, but you're afraid of skating?" Ilia teased.

"I never said that!" He shouted.

"That's what it sounds like to me!" Neela called out.

"Nobody asked you!" Titus replied. Neela glanced over at Eliana who had extended an arm to her.

"Shall we?" Eliana asked. Neela looked her over and they smiled at each other.

"Yes, let's," Neela answered. They hooked arms and skipped down to the rink.

"We don't have any skates with us!" Titus exclaimed.

"I can help!" Bái called out, approaching them from the road with Lykos. Ilia forced Titus to the ground and Bái formed skates made of ice on the bottom of their shoes. Ilia nodded at Bái with a smile.

"Thanks! I'm going to take this pansy out on the ice now," she said. Ilia looked at them all and grinned as she dragged Titus once again.

"You guys came into town to shop too?" Eliana asked. "We saw Cobalt earlier."

"Yeah, he was getting a gift for Tawney," Lykos told her. Eliana nodded.

"Makes sense," she replied. Bái pulled on Lykos arm.

"Let's go skate!" She told him. He chuckled.

"Alright," he told her giving in. "See you two out there!"

"Sure!" Neela responded. Neela watched Eliana who had taken a seat on a nearby bench and was putting on a pair of ice skates that Neela recognized from years ago. "Hey, those look familiar." Eliana looked down at them and smiled.

"Yeah, my feet haven't gotten much bigger since then," Eliana grunted, struggling to get them on. Neela knelt in the snow and grabbed the shoe.

"Let me help," Neela told her. Neela helped push it onto her foot and Eliana smiled down at her.

"Thanks, Neela!" She exclaimed. "Want help with yours?"

"I didn't bring mine," Neela told her.

"I'm sure Bái could whip you up a pair!" Eliana informed her. Neela laughed.

"I think I'll just watch for a bit," Neela replied. She moved up to the bench and sat beside Eliana.

"Suit yourself," Eliana told her with a grin and was gone in a flash. This was the part where normally Neela's mind would welcome in a happy flashback moment between the two of them or a fantasy where Eliana would skate over once she walks to the rink, acting like she can't stop and then tackling her. Then they kiss. That was the way it always played out, but this time Neela's felt different. She had been here two weeks ago, and she'd nearly died. Images of her battle with Ebony filtered quickly through her mind in a flash, she could barely keep up.

"Same thing on your mind still?" Lykos asked. She sighed and nodded, the last time she'd seen him was in the library the other day when she'd lost her cool.

"I'd rather not talk about it," she replied. He nodded and waved Bái over. She sprinted over, stopping next to him and he pointed at Neela's feet, nodding to her. Bái formed a pair of skates on the bottom of Neela's shoes and she looked them over in confusion before looking up at Lykos who was smirking.

"I don't see that preoccupied look on your face when you're with Eliana," Lykos told her. "Go skate." Neela nodded with a smirk and ran out to join Eliana, the girls laughing as they were reunited.

"You really are amazing Lykos-kun," Bái told him, embracing his arm. He looked down at her thoughtfully. He could hardly call himself amazing. If only she knew.

"I think now would be a great time to consider getting food!" Cobalt called from the tree line, stepping out and joining Bái and Lykos.

"Chicken?" Tawney asked, whispering in his ear. He nearly leapt out of his skin and turned around to face her.

"No! And why would you sneak up on a guy like that?!" Cobalt demanded.

"Show of hands. Who thinks Cobalt can't ice skate?" Tawney asked. Lykos, Bái, and Tawney all raised their hands and Cobalt chuckled, nodding in disbelief.

"Fine. Okay, alright. But if I take back your gift now, I can exchange it for something nice that I'd like," Cobalt told her. He raised his eyebrow as she frowned in frustration. "Hm? What's that? You still want your gift?"

"But we just got here senpai!" Bái exclaimed.

"Yeah 'senpai'," Tawney agreed. Cobalt bit his lip and pointed towards the rink.

"Fine! Go!" He shooed them off. "And I'd prefer the term sensei!" Tawney waved him off as she motioned towards the rink with her head and she took off running with Bái. Cobalt sighed as he sat on the bench, Lykos joining him there as they sat in silence.

"What did you get-" Cobalt began.

"No," Lykos replied. Cobalt looked at him, blinking hard a few times before watching their friends skating again.

"I got Tawney a CD she wanted," Cobalt told him. "Maybe it's obvious, and maybe it's the impersonal choice, but it's something that she wanted, right?" Lykos nodded and the silence enveloped them again. "Yeah… So… Anyways… Skating. Great time, right?"

"Bái is happy. That's enough for me," Lykos replied.

"Good man, taking care of your woman," Cobalt told him.

"We aren't together," Lykos replied dryly. Cobalt gave him a bewildered look.

"What?" He asked in shock.

"We are not together," Lykos answered again, practically spelling it out. Cobalt moved closer, glancing at Bái on occasion and looking Lykos dead in the eyes.

"Lykos, what do you mean? You are that girl's entire world, how are you not together? Are you guys…? You know what, none of my business, but still, I can't figure that one out. This is a joke, right? That girl is attached to you at the hip. If she's awake, she needs you by her side to function. Sometimes she even needs you that close when she's sleeping, but you're going to tell me that you two aren't an item?" Cobalt blurted out. Lykos shoved him back and stood.

"I don't want her that close to me!" He snapped. Cobalt knew it was a lie, he could hear the uncertainty. Why was Lykos hesitant? What was holding him back? Clearly, they both had feelings for each other, and both of them were overly self-aware of their feelings, so what was Cobalt missing? "If anything I'd rather be considered more of a bodyguard or an older brother." Cobalt looked at him, Lykos staring daggers through him.

"Okay. I'm sorry," Cobalt apologized. He looked out at the rink again and whistled loudly. They all looked at him, including a few others who were simply there to enjoy themselves. "Anybody on Team CBLT and NITE want food? My parents are paying, so I was thinking we could go get something from the Mistrali restaurant across the street here!" They all looked at each other and called back in unison.

"Sure!" Cobalt smirked and waited for them to arrive.

"Thanks, Cobalt!" Eliana exclaimed hugging him tightly.

"Don't mention it," he told her, "My mom and dad wanted us to have a good time today and I kind of figured that we'd run into you guys."

"Oh hey!" Eliana exclaimed realizing the opportunity at hand. "Just a minute guys!" She ran up to someone passing by and talked to him for a moment, handing him her scroll. She ran back to the group and waved for the stragglers to hurry. "We're going to take a group picture! It'll be great!" Neela shook her head and smiled. Eliana was something else. Always had been, always would be. She ran up to the group, challenging Ilia to keep up with her.

"Let's do this!" Bái exclaimed excitedly.

* * *

"Alright! So, we're going to do this one at a time okay?!" Eliana exclaimed standing in front of the TV, both teams had piled into the rec room of the dorm, some of them sitting at one of the tables and a few of them on the two couches. "Who wants to go first?"

"I'll go," Tawney said as Eliana sat and she moved to the front of the room, holding out Cobalt's gift for him to come and take from her. She snatched it away several times as he tried to grab it and they all chuckled.

"Alright, okay. Very funny!" He exclaimed.

"Helpless without your visor," Tawney told him.

"As if. Just thought I'd let you enjoy your little moment," he taunted. She rolled her eyes.

"Just open it," she told him. He tore the paper off slowly, his face twisting in shock as he destroyed the rest of the paper.

"This is a limited release, premium gold edition, pre-order only, Volume One of Demon Ninja Knight, complete with an autograph and one extra panel exclusive to this print!" Cobalt exclaimed. He looked back up at Tawney and looked away quickly. "I… I feel like an ass now."

"It's cool Cobalt," Tawney said. "You just wouldn't shut up about it, so I just had to get it for you." Cobalt held out his gift to her and she looked it over, a smirk on her face as his wrapping made it super obvious as to what it was. She opened it up. "It's Jeff and Casey's new album. Awesome." Cobalt and Tawney smiled at each other. "Thanks, sensei."

"Thank you, Tawney." He replied. They both took their seats and Titus slowly stood, moving to the middle of the room.

"Alright, enough of the sappy nonsense, Ilia, come and get your gift," Titus said sounding bored. Ilia stood slowly, moving to the middle of the room and opening it, discovering a brown cardboard box beneath the wrapping and opening it. Ilia dropped the box, Titus catching it before it could hit the floor. Ilia covered her mouth, shaking her head.

"No, Titus. No," she told him. "Why?" Titus slowly removed the mirror and handed it carefully to Ilia who was reluctant to take it.

"My mother is the most important person in my life and I would never want to forget what she looks like," Titus told her. "I didn't think you'd want to forget what yours looked like either." She couldn't speak, the words wouldn't have come out anyway. Titus took a step forward and wrapped his arms around her, she clung tight to him.  _He's just like an older brother! Titus! You don't know how much this means to me!_

"Thank you," she gasped. He let go of her and smiled as she held out her bag towards him. She laughed through the tears. "It's not nearly as nice as the mirror, but I hope you still like it." Titus looked in, his eyes searching for what he assumed would be inside, but was unable to find it. He slowly pulled out the black cloth, holding it out in front of him. "It's a cape. It has the Atlas Kingdom's crest in white on it. I thought that maybe you could wear it every now and then instead of that plain white and purple one." Titus smiled, unclasping his gargoyle broach and trading the capes out.

"Thank you Ilia," he replied admiring the new cape. "I will wear it at all times." Eliana sniffed loudly and they all looked at her.

"You guys are killing me!" She exclaimed. "Bái and Lykos can go next."

"I didn't get him anything too crazy, rest assured!" Bái exclaimed as she blushed and handed over the bag to him. He peaked in, smirking as she hit him. "You can't look, you have to just pull it out!" She shoved him and he chuckled as he reached in, closing his eyes for over exaggeration and pulled out a pair of earmuffs. "Do you like them? You're always telling me that your ears are cold and since it's winter, I thought that you might want a pair." He reached up and adjusted where his pelt sat on the top of his head.

"I love them," he told her. "And here's yours." Bái's was wrapped inside a shoebox and she opened it up, wasting no time and throwing the two halves of the box away as she reached the middle, quickly gripping onto the item. She looked the dark grey scarf over and held it up so that everyone could see. "I'm sorry that it wasn't as thoughtful as the ear muffs, but I thought that you'd still like it." Bái held it close to her chest and ran forward to Lykos, throwing her arms around him.

"Of course I love it, it's from you! Thank you, Lykos!" She shouted. He held her for a moment, his eyes meeting Cobalt's as they exchanged a glance. Cobalt's was teasing, still not ready to accept the fact that the two of them were nothing more than friends while Lykos glared daggers back at him. He smiled at Bái as she let him go and Eliana leapt up out of her seat, bouncing up and down as she held her gift for Neela behind her back. Eliana grinned from ear to ear as Neela slowly stood, seeming labored as she did so, and everyone waiting with a fake enthusiasm as to humor Eliana.

"Hurry up already!" Eliana demanded. Neela waltzed over slowly, holding out her hand in a lackadaisical manner and Eliana handed her the frame with the picture that they took from earlier in the day in it.

"This is amazing, Elli! Thanks!" Neela replied. "You'll have to wait until later to receive yours."

"What?" Ilia asked.

"Come on!" Titus demanded. "There's no cop-outs here!"

"It's not ready yet!" Neela yelled back at them.

"What is it?" Cobalt asked.

"It's a surprise!" Neela shouted back at them in response. "Sheesh." Cobalt leapt up, racing quickly to the doorway and using his clone as a stool, placing mistletoe at the top and leaping off, his clone disappearing.

"Alright people, you know the drill. Leave in pairs and whoever you leave with, you have to kiss," Cobalt told them. He extended his hand. "Ilia?" They all stared hard at Cobalt before looking back and Ilia. She smirked, adding extra sway as she sauntered over to him and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him in close. His face turned bright red and he was instantly confused by what was happening. "Wait… what are you doing?!"

"You wanted a kiss, didn't you?" She asked. She forced one on him aggressively, his mouth unsure whether or not it could enjoy it at first but he gave in, only a second before she disappeared.

"Happy Winter Festival!" Cobalt shouted before punching himself repeatedly in the face and stumbling down the hall. They all stood in a shocked silence for a moment before they remembered that they were leaving, glancing at one another.

"So that happened," Titus said. "And I am going to leave the room by myself now." They watched as he left, followed closely by Tawney, though no one would have dared as they were aware that the end result would be less than desirable unless it was Ilia again. Bái and Lykos left with each other, Bái hesitating beneath the berries and leaves, letting Lykos kiss her on the cheek before blushing and skipping away. Eliana began to leave, standing in the doorway and glancing up at the mistletoe.

"Funny that people are supposed to kiss under this silly little plant," Eliana said. "What's the logic behind that anyway?"

"Some legend that no one really knows all that well," Neela told her standing a few feet away. "On each of the season's festivals, the brothers called for a truce from one another for that one day. Each one has a different tradition that was created by the humans that were around at the time of the brothers. Painting eggs and filling pumpkins with candles was rumored to keep Grimm and evil spirits away. Every year on the day of the Summer Festival there is a meteor shower, which humans believed to be the brothers working together to remind the people of the beauty the brothers had created."

"What about the mistletoe?" Eliana asked again. Neela shrugged.

"That one seems to be the most obscure myth of them all, but rumor has it that the brothers promised those that kissed under the mistletoe everlasting friendship and an unbreakable betrothal that was recognized by both the spirits and humankind," Neela told her. "But again, it's just a myth. People just do it now because it's the 'thing to do'." Eliana stared at it for a moment longer before looking back at Neela.

"It seems that neither of us has someone to kiss," Eliana told her. Neela chuckled nervously before shrugging.

"We could kiss each other," Neela suggested. Eliana watched her and Neela felt as if something inside of her was ready to implode.  _Why would I suggest that? This is crazy Neela, that's obviously not what she wants! Pull it together! Fix this!_ "I was just joking Elli, that would be absurd."

"Would it?" Eliana asked. Neela looked at her in disbelief. Were they actually having this conversation?! "I mean, if it's just the thing you do when you're under the mistletoe, it would be no different than painting eggs or putting lights in gourds, right?" Neela stared long and hard at Eliana. Was she following along with what she was suggesting? Did she really think it would be that harmless if they kissed? And if Eliana saw it as being that plutonic, would Neela be the same after the fact, knowing that she wanted it to be far more? "Come here." Neela was hesitant, looking at Eliana as though she was confused, Eliana with her hand extended much like Cobalt's had been a moment ago. She heard the door close, they were alone.

"Eliana, really. It's just silly. We don't  _have_  to do this," Neela reassured her. Eliana laughed and wiggled her fingers towards Neela, suggesting for her to come closer.

"Are you scared, little hawk?" Eliana asked. Neela's jaw quivered but it was unnoticeable to Eliana. She used that name again. "Afraid that you might like it?"

"Don't be… Don't be ridiculous Elli," Neela replied taking Eliana's hand.  _I'm more afraid that you might_ _ **not**_   _like it._  Eliana brushed Neela's braid and Neela looked at her hand, her eyes trying to decide what to focus on.  _Oh my Oum, she's serious. She's actually going to do it, isn't she?_

"Relax Neela," Eliana told her. "It'll be over in a moment and we'll have another great memory that'll stay with us forever." Neela inhaled deeply, letting it back out and closing her eyes, trying to focus. This wasn't the way that she had imagined their first kiss in her head, but it wasn't a big deal, right? It never went as people planned it, a romantic dinner along the ocean side, a nice cafe. There was music playing softly, perhaps coming from inside of the restaurant, maybe echoing gently out of a music hall on the other side of the city. Eliana would look completely stunning in the same dress that she'd worn to the dance, Coco probably did Neela's make up. "Are you ready?"

"Yes…" Neela barely managed, her throat constricted and dry, nodding hard so that Eliana would know she meant it. Eliana gently caressed the back of Neela's head, her other hand still lightly manipulating Neela's braids, she pulled her in slow. Neela's mind was mush, her eyes were clamped shut, her lips pursed but quivering, her knees knocking together hard enough to create seismic activity. Nothing was functioning properly at this point, Neela was close to collapsing on top of Eliana which would only make matters worse. The only thing that was audible to Neela at this point was her own heart pounding in her chest, and Eliana's soft, hot breath that grew heavier and more evident with every passing millisecond.

Neela's mind lit up, her body becoming rigid as she swore Eliana's lips brushed her own, Eliana's breath giving her life for just an eclipsing moment before Eliana drew back, Neela unwilling to open her eyes just yet. She needed the moment of release, but her pride and heart crashed violently as she felt Eliana's soft lips on her cheek. Neela took a deep breath in as Eliana pulled back and laughed under her breath.

"You okay, Neela?" Eliana asked looking at her as Neela opened her eyes again. "You're cheek was burning up." Neela looked at the floor, nodding lightly and licking her lips. She looked back up at Eliana, Eliana looked pleased with herself, smiling at Neela, but it almost seemed different. Was this the same smile that carefree and perpetually joyful Eliana typically had on her face?

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Neela replied when she was finally able to speak again.

"Was that so hard?" Eliana asked. Eliana walked away, leaving Neela standing under the mistletoe and perplexed, staring up at it and trying desperately to figure out what happened. "Come on! We have to catch the next flight or we aren't going to make it back to Patch tonight!" Neela heard the door close and she pulled her glove off of her left hand, putting it in her mouth and biting hard, screaming through it.  _What are you waiting for Neela?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neela's still got it bad and is going to have to tell Elli eventually. Next Week, the beginning of the Winter Break Arc as Titus and Ilia head to Atlas in Chapter 46 - Mantle and Salutem!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	50. Mantle and Salutem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ilia travels with Titus to his hometown and learns a thing or two about the people of Mantle.

"So this is the place huh?" Ilia asked as they stepped off of the airship, the village of Mantle, which had formerly been the greatest city in the entire kingdom by the same name, was reduced to no more than ruins, a disheveled and haphazardly placed mass of stone blocks. The marble archway that made up one of the few entrances into the village had mostly crumbled, but no one had bothered moving the debris and judging by the amount of moss that was visible despite the light blowing snow, it was overly obvious that they had been there for years. Grimm attacks and thieves no doubt, remnants of an old civilization and a forgotten, ancient mindset. They had advanced so quickly in technology and industry that the new government and capital moved from the cliffside, determining that it would be easier to ignore the people rather than integrate them.

The roadway in and every road after was made of cobblestone, timeworn and beaten, stones missing from the path, filled with grass that hardly managed to peak out of the snow. A horse and cart rode by in the busy square, the village very much alive despite the fact that it was in shambles. Ilia stood close to Titus, using him to shield the wind as she watched the settlement in all of its life. Street vendors lined on both sides of the crowded and narrow main strip that ran the length of the village. They shouted and laughed at each other, children jumping up and down in front of the booths, hoping to be noticed by one of the merchants. A taller, older man that was dressed in heavy amounts of fur and animal pelts laughed boisterously, handing a loaf of bread to one of the kids.

"You kids share that now, okay?" He instructed. They shouted thanks at him, making absolutely certain that he knew they were appreciative. They ran off with it, running into someone and scattering off, apologizing to the younger woman. She waved to them, giving them a smile and laughing at how carefree they were, sweeping into the market with a wooden rod over her shoulders, a sack hanging from each end. She set them down and placed her wares out on her stand. She set everything out just so, calling out to the man who'd give the children the bread. They both laughed.

Ilia looked over and up at Titus who smiled, his chest puffed out as it typically was, but this time instead of a superficial look of power and ignorance, he looked happy and proud. A kind of pride where she half expected that he'd walk briskly to the people on the road and pick them up in a warm and strong embrace. She waited for him to throw his head back, laughing as the vendor had, waving, smiling, and calling out to the others in the village square that he noticed. Titus wasn't a lieutenant general right now. Right now he was the prodigal son who was relieved that he'd made it back to his home after a long and tiresome journey. There was no facade that he was trying to maintain.

"Are you glad to be back?" Ilia asked him. He glanced down at her and realized that she saw the real Titus. It was the first time that anyone had seen him like this since he'd left for the military. No, that wasn't true, was it? It was the first time that anyone had seen him like this since  _he had his run-in with Admon_. He had expected that he would come home and every place that had played a part in that nightmare would come back to haunt him. But he stepped through the archway with Ilia, moving to the place that Admon had held the gun to his head with the intent of letting the pain rush in and remind him that he wasn't allowed to feel safe, remind him that he was only strong if he could do this alone. It didn't happen.

He had Ilia there with him. They'd grown closer all the time, both of them had only known how to be alone for so long, but now they were learning how to be trusting together. She leaned on him to know that she could trust in others to keep her from being alone. He leaned on her to know that he truly was stronger with the help of others. He glanced down at Ilia, his teammate still drinking in the sights and mesmerized by the livelihood. He chuckled as he tried to find what had caught her eye and she glanced up at him.

"What's so funny?" Ilia asked.

"You seem so amused at all of this," Titus said. She laughed and leaned her head against him. He gently pushed her off, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Don't get too cozy, people are going to get the wrong idea about us and everyone recognizes me. I'm the hope for this village, proof that the world can't be allowed to just forget about Mantle."

"I can't help but be blown away by these people," Ilia told him as they moved down a side alley, Titus clearly wanting to avoid being mobbed. "There were neighborhoods that were run down like this in Shade. Crumbling walls, shady buildings with broken or missing windows. But the people weren't like this by any means. They were mean and angry. We robbed each other, we stole from each other, and we…" He looked down at her but she stared down the alley, averting her eyes. "We killed each other."

"Kill or be killed, right?" Titus asked. She stifled a laugh. Titus sighed. "A couple of weeks before I was sent to Beacon we had an incident with the White Fang. They had stolen information from the SDC and Schnee family, blueprints of the mansion, sales reports, other various bits of insider information. The Schnee's paid an obscene amount of money to cover up the incident, but a member of the Fang had broken into the SDC headquarters and threatened to blow the place sky high. I was sent in because of my semblance, and I was given no option but to kill him."

"So I guess that makes both of us killers," Ilia said.

"But we both had no choice," Titus told her. He reached the end of the alley and pointed. "When you want to tell me about what happened, I'm ready to listen." Their eyes locked and she nodded, looking to where he pointed and noting an old jilted building. "That's the place. That's where I grew up." Ilia walked forward slowly in front of him, amazed at how similar it was to her own living situation she'd suffered through for years during her early teens. He seemed so proud of it. This was his  **home.**  Ilia reached the doorway, the building was short and she wondered how Titus hadn't ended up with a permanent hunch, the house easily a few inches too short for him to stand up straight in. She glanced over her shoulder, hardly able to view the village square from where she stood.

Titus knocked lightly on the door, swinging it open, peering inside, and stepping slowly in. The floorboards creaked but he continued in, Ilia worried from the sound of the wood that it would give and the two of them would crash into the cellar below.

"Mom?" Titus asked, calling out to her, hoping that he'd find her in the next room, the back half of the house. He pulled back the old tattered blanket that divided the house, careening his head and scanning the kitchen for her. She wasn't anywhere to be found in the shack and he stepped out the back door, a shared yard with clotheslines scattered about, but the lawn was empty with the exception of occasional stacks of firewood, and snow drifts. Where had his mother and sisters gone? "Mom?"

"Titus," came a call from the street in front of the house. Ilia stepped out of the way as he thundered through the house and threw open the door. Ilia stepped out behind him, looking around him and noting the man who'd given the bread to the children, he smiled as he approached and shook Titus's hand. "Well if you aren't the spitting image of your father now. It's so refreshing to see you."

"I appreciate your words Mingan, but I was here to spend the break with my mother. Is she around?" Titus asked. Mingan chuckled and stroked his long gray beard nodding.

"Around is one way of putting it. She headed north," Mingan told him. "Moved to Salutem." Titus glanced back at the house before looking at Mingan again in disbelief.

"What do you mean?" Titus asked. "I understand what you said, but how was she able to move north to that upstart village? They're considered the safe haven between here and The Capital, and they're personable, but someone like mom wouldn't be allowed to stay. She's in poverty… we're in poverty, everyone here is." Mingan chuckled, but it was just as loud as his normal laugh.

"I'm not doing half bad for myself," Mingan told him. "It seems that your mother was given a rather large sum of money from the Schnees." Titus' shoulders loosened and his eyes softened. "Did that fancy general that trained you not tell you?" Titus shook his head speechless, glancing back at the hut again.

"No, she never told me," Titus said trying to shake off the shock. "I guess we're heading up to Salutem." Mingan laughed again, as though it was all he knew how to do.

"That trip takes close to an entire day," Mingan informed him. "The house has been vacant since your mother left, I recommend that you and the lady stay here for the night. Not to mention it'll offer more privacy than going to the inn." Mingan leaned in. "The place is kind of run down and the young boys around here do anything they need to for a peek." Titus took a step back and glanced back at Ilia, shaking his head.

"I remember the inn," Titus replied.

"You're into voyeur babe?" Ilia asked with a smile. Titus turned red in the face and took a deep breath.

"It's not like that," he told the man. "We aren't together like that."

"We'll stay here thanks," Ilia replied. "We'd prefer our privacy." Titus grumbled, balling his fists and looking back at her.

"She's cute," Mingan offered.

"Okay! Alright! Thank you, Mingan!" Titus shouted. He shoved Ilia inside and closed the door behind.

"We were just having fun," Ilia defended.

"Fun's done," he bit off.

"Jeez, relax Modern Major General," she told him. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked around the small shack, hoping he'd find something they could sleep on and anything to cover up with. "I expected there'd be more snow."

"Living on the side of a cliff like we do, a lot of wind blows in from the ocean which prevents most of the snow from accumulating," he explained. "Just wait until we head further north, there'll be more snow than you can stand."

"So, tell me about it," she requested. "Tell me about when you were younger and you lived here with your three sisters." Titus chuckled as he pulled the dividing blanket off of the rod and tossed it to Ilia. She nodded in thanks and draped it over her shoulders. She'd never been this far north and growing up in Vacuo she'd become accustomed to four seasons that were generally warm.

"Why don't we head down to the market first and get something to eat before they close up for the night. Unlike Vale, once it's dark here there isn't a soul to be found," he told her. She nodded in agreement and they headed out, making their way down the main strip towards the merchants. Just as Titus had tried to warn her of before, he was swarmed immediately, everyone in the square calling out his name and trying to reach out to him, Ilia swallowed up by the crowd and everyone asking if they were dating. Titus blushed, assuring them that they weren't, Ilia shaking hands and trying to help him this time, confirming that she was only his teammate.

"If you're not dating her, perhaps she'd like to spend some time with me?!" Someone called out from the crowd.

"Or me?!" Another voice called out.

"Not on your lives!" Titus replied and the crowd broke out into laughter. "We just came down to the market for some meat." Titus pointed at Mingan. "If you're going to offer me some, I  _am_  going to pay you!" Mingan laughed, holding out a slab of meat.

"Rabbit?" Mingan asked. Titus nodded.

"How much?" Titus asked.

"You know I can't charge you, Titus!" Mingan told him. Titus pulled out his wallet and thumbed through it, handing him twenty lien.

"Then think of it as a donation," Titus informed him, taking the meat. Ilia nodded and thanked them as Titus pushed through the crowd, making his way back to the house and smiling again, genuinely. He opened the door letting her in, staring out as the sun began to set and the stars began to appear. "I'll grab some firewood from the back and cook this up." Ilia nodded, still amazed at the entire situation.

Night fell. Dinner was delicious. The snow had stopped, for the most part, both of them laying on straw rolls on opposite sides of the room, staring up at the stars and moon far above. It felt just like home back in Vacuo, yet so different. It was amazing. She took a deep breath in a reached her hand out, staring at the shining lights that littered the night sky through her fingers. This was the closest they'd ever been, wasn't it?

"I'm guessing you would have preferred taking up Neela on her invitation," Titus said after a long silence that blanketed both of them. Ilia turned her head to look at him, starlight shining off of his eyes as well, his gaze focused hard on the moon.

"I can't remember the last time I felt so at peace," she replied. "Thank you for bringing me with." He cracked a smile, his eyes never leaving the celestial body above.

"Don't mention it," he told her. "It's been a long time since I've slept out under the stars like this. Once I left Mantle I slept in barracks until I worked my way up through the ranks of the military. Once I became a lieutenant general, I stayed in the officer's quarters, a large and unnecessarily lavish manor, it made me feel more like a Schnee than a member of the army. It was unbearable, I was appreciative, but it was so difficult to sleep."

"I felt the same way when I came to Beacon. I was too used to constantly watching my back and sleeping in rough conditions or confined spaces. I can think of at least three separate occasions where I woke up in a hospital due to heat exhaustion," Ilia told him. Silence filled the room again and she wondered if he had fallen asleep. She could have easily.

"I guess we should get some sleep, tomorrow's trip should be easy enough, but it will be a full day's walk even with minimal stops. I'm guessing there won't be many due to Salutem being the only trustworthy settlement between here and The Capital. There may be a camp or two on the way, but typically they're bandit camps and I don't think we really want to stop at any of those," Titus said.

"Can I tell you something?" Ilia asked. Titus was silent. "I guess you already know what I'm going to tell you. The first time I killed, it was out of self-defense. As I've said multiple times on this trip, Vacuo isn't anything like Mantle, it's a place that is desolate, lacking the proper military force to keep the entire city or kingdom in check. It's a general misconception that Mistral is the most dangerous region, even more so now that Sterling rules the land with an iron fist. I was young, and I had just run away from home for the first time, my father told me that he hated me, drunk to be sure, but the words stung. Mother had only died a week earlier. I figured that I was better off alone.

I had finally found a nice run down dirt house to call my own, but when I had returned on the third night to get some rest, there was a man waiting inside who wanted to kill me for what little money I still had on me." Ilia paused for a long moment. "I used my semblance to kill him. I didn't see any other way out." Another bout of silence before Ilia pulled her covers tight to her body and rolled onto her side. "Thanks for listening."

"Anytime Ilia," he offered. With that, they both drifted off.

* * *

"Come get your baked goods here!" Yelled a voice louder than the rest of the noise as Titus opened his eyes, staring up at the blue sky. It wasn't overcast, he couldn't have asked for more ideal conditions for their travel day and he slowly sat up, looking over to where Ilia had slept but she was gone and he imagined that she had either gone back to the square once more to purchase something, or she had stepped out back to use one of the showers. The back door slammed and she looked at him, red in the face as she pointed back toward the shared yard.

"You didn't tell me that the showers were outside!" She shouted.

"They're enclosed," he told her.

"What if some pervert comes along and tries to take a peek? Or what if someone takes my towel?" Ilia yelled at him as she moved quickly through the hut, gathering her things and shoving them into her pack. She slung it over her arm and opened the front door, standing in it as she stared back at him. "Well, you ready to go?"

"I suppose," he chuckled under his breath.

"You better hope that there is indoor plumbing at this Salutem," she told him.

"Or what, you won't shower?" He asked. "How did you make it by in Vacuo living in rundown houses?"

"We had public baths," she told him as they headed for the northern exit of the village.

"How is that any different than what we have here?" He inquired.

"Structure," she answered. Titus shook his head and they left the village, the trip was relatively uneventful. The two of them skirted around the two bandit camps that Titus was sure were going to pose a problem along the way. They walked most of the way in silence, Ilia would ask an occasional question about the weather or the geography and Titus would tell her. A lot of the land was barren, the occasional tuft of grass or single tree could be seen every now and then, offering just enough variety to let a person know where they were, or let them feel as though they were still making progress.

"Does it always take this long to get anywhere up here?" She asked him. He sighed as he exhaled into his hands, trying to keep them warm.

"If we had a horse or airship at our disposal it would have been faster, but it's really pretty easy to go for great lengths of time without coming across a settlement. The longest time by foot is two days I believe, the people of Atlas typically try and have them spaced out enough so that people don't die of lack of food or heat. There would be more, but so few actually last, there had been two settlements prior to Salutem built on the same spot. Once you get further north of The Capital there's not much that's been touched by humans with the exception of the dust mines. It gets far too cold and it's more dangerous than the rest of the continent," Titus explained.

"I guess that's pretty much the same as Vacuo for the most part," she told him. "Though Vacuo is far more unforgiving. There is one settlement aside from Shade, and that's the airstrip port that allows airships to leave and come in from other kingdoms. Shade was built on an oasis and is the only place in Vacuo that is capable of sustaining life. Sure, you'll have the occasional loners who go off into the desert and carry out lives of solitude, but there are very few of them and we hear back from them so little we aren't ever that sure that they survived."

"Then why would anyone leave Shade to live out in the sand?" Titus asked.

"As I've said before, Shade is a place of thieves and murders," she reminded him. She stopped for a moment, peering down the path and pointing. He looked out to where she was pointing and he smirked, pressing onward.

"It would appear we have almost reached Salutem," he told her. "I honestly can't tell you how excited I am to see my family again."

"I'm excited to meet them as well," she agreed. "Your mother must be quite the woman."

"She is," Titus replied. As they closed in on the village, Titus spotted several Atlesian Military airships that caused him to hesitate before picking up the pace. His speed forced Ilia into a jog and as they entered the village, Titus spotted a militant and approached him. "You there. What's going on here that's brought the military to Salutem?"

"Your arrival sir!" He reported. Titus glanced around and smirked, shaking his head.

"This looks more like the arrival of a war hero, and I am far from anything of such manner," Titus replied.

"You are Lieutenant General Prasinos. Are you not sir?" The soldier replied as if it was rehearsed.

"That is correct," Titus answered.

"Then this welcoming party, as it were, is for you, sir!" He explained. The soldier saluted and went about his business as Titus and Ilia stepped away and were greeted by a sight that shocked Titus. He stopped short of the woman officer who was greeting some of the villagers that were walking through the main gate, she smiled and nodded at them, laughing at something one of them said. She had straight shoulder length hair that was black until the last two inches of the tips which were a dark orange. Her eyes were the same color orange as well, burning with a fringe of black around the outside of the iris. She also had a foxtail that whisked happily behind her as she waved to the passersby.

"Something wrong?" Ilia asked as they came closer to the Faunus.

"I'm not sure yet," he replied, noticing the patching on the officer's arm and noting that she shared the same rank as him. She smiled at one last person that passed by before acknowledging Titus and shoving through several bystanders to reach him.

"So you're the youngest one they ever made lieutenant general?" She asked extending her hand for him to shake. He looked at it for a moment before glancing back up at her smiling face. He humored her with a handshake and drew his hand back, still feeling as though something was off as he looked her over. "Titus Prasinos, 'The Gargoyle'. Joined the Atlas Military training program when you were only twelve years old, had a nasty run-in with Admon, completed your training with Winter Branwen and were promoted to your current rank just before your seventeenth birthday."

"Sounds like someone has done her homework," Ilia said as she shook the woman's hand. "Ilia Cherny."

"Fiance?" She asked. Titus groaned.

"Teammate," Ilia answered for him.

"And who might you be?" Titus asked. The Faunus flushed and took a step back.

"I'm so sorry, I must have gotten ahead of myself. My name is Kitsune Aka, it's a pleasure to have met both of you. I'm sorry that our first interaction has to end so abruptly, but we all have a tight schedule to uphold here today and I must continue on with my duties. I hope that I'm able to talk more with both of you at the ball!" She called out as she left them and carried on with her work.

"You seemed kind of out of sorts with her," Ilia pointed out. "Do you two know each other?" Titus shook his head.

"No. What I understand even less about that entire encounter is the fact that they've made a Faunus an officer in the Atlas Military," Titus explained to Ilia. "They've never even let Faunus enroll before."

"Times are changing," Winter said as she approached her apprentice. He saluted her and she smirked, waving him off. "At ease."

"Why is the military really here? And what do you mean by the times are changing?" Titus asked. She ushered them into the inn and sat at one of the tables in the large pub on the lower floor.

"It's more or less a welcome party for you, but you didn't really think that me asking you to attend the dance would be purely for pleasure, did you?" She asked.

"So you plan on putting me to work?" Titus extrapolated. Winter nodded. "Alright, now what about the fox?"

"Lieutenant General Aka is one of our best soldiers, and she's the first of many planned additions into the Atlas Military. We need to start integrating Faunus if we ever plan on the general public feeling safe around them. My sister has also been helping in bridging the gap, she has more than a dozen Faunus on her personal staff at the manor," Winter told them.

"Weiss no longer stays in the manor," Titus said dryly. Winter chuckled.

"You're well informed." She waved for the server. "She still stays there from time to time when she has business to attend to."

"You're making all of these moves despite the White Fang's recent activity?" Ilia asked.

"We can't wait around forever to make things happen. We perform a thorough check on the background of those who pass the enrollment requirements," Winter told them.

"But to move up the ranks that quickly?" Titus asked. The waitress brought them all hot cider and Winter chuckled as she thanked the woman.

"Jealous?" Winter asked. Titus raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" He asked. The doors were thrown open and in ran a shorter older woman who made a beeline to Titus and threw her arms around him.

"Titus! Your home, thank Oum!" She shouted. She glanced over at Ilia. "I assume this is one of the teammates you've been training with?"

"Yes!" Titus exclaimed. He squeezed her tight before releasing her and she moved to Ilia who gave her a gentle embrace. "See? Mama gets it."

"You didn't assume that I was his girlfriend?" Ilia asked.

"Why would I? My Titus is going to marry that Natalia Ironwood someday," Mrs. Prasinos exclaimed. Titus blushed and grabbed his mother gently by the shoulders, Winter and Ilia stifling laughter.

"Mom, I don't even know where Nat is!" Titus exclaimed.

"That doesn't matter," She told them.

"Where are the girls?" Titus asked.

"Don't you talk to General Branwen ever?" His mother asked. "There's a basic education institute that just opened in Atlas and your sisters are attending. They won't be on break until next week however and I'm guessing that you'll be gone by that point." Titus nodded.

"Sadly. Ilia and I need to get back and finish some projects that will be due as soon as school starts back up," Titus explained.

They enjoyed themselves, Titus especially for the first time in a while. It wasn't to say that he didn't enjoy Beacon and all of the new 'friends' that he had made, but this time it seemed more genuine. He didn't know when he'd come that Winter intended to make him work and so the day that he was supposed to spend with his family had turned into a few hours, but those few hours with his mother, Ilia, and Winter were the greatest gift that he could have received for the festival. He hugged his mother and he and Ilia took an airship out with Winter and Kitsune, heading to the academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Runaway and The Militant are finally opening up to each other. Next week, The Winter Arc continues in Chapter 47 - Ballroom Blitz!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	51. Ballroom Blitz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Titus and Ilia attend the charity ball, but not all of the attendees are feeling very charitable.

"I can effectively say that I hope this is the first and last time that I ever have to attend a ball," Ilia told Titus as she stepped out from behind the room divider, she wore a tight black dress that sparkled and accentuated her curves, she bent down to fix one of the straps on her heels and looked back at Titus. "It's long enough, right? You can't see my ass?"

"Trust me, if I could, I would tell you," he reassured her. She bent awkwardly and acted as if it was difficult to move in, moving to Titus so that she could adjust his tie.

"So, this is what it feels like to be on one of your military missions, huh?" She asked. "Why do you always wear that military uniform? Don't you have anything else in your closet?"

"Like my Beacon uniform?" He asked. She laughed and shook her head, satisfied with how he looked and repositioning his collar.

"Do we just wait in here for Winter?" Ilia asked.

"Winter will find us," he told her as he looked over his collars and secured the cufflinks. He offered his arm to her and she pulled on the elbow length gloves that went with her dress, taking his arm and following him out into the lobby where most of the guests were meeting. They looked rich, most likely friends of the Schnees or shareholders and proprietors, Atlesian Military and staff members mixed in. Titus and Ilia greeted some of the guests, shaking hands and kissing on cheeks, it seemed methodical to a point. Winter had drifted through the crowd and reached them, Ironwood steps behind her as they greeted each other discreetly.

"Will we be briefed?" Titus asked.

"If there's any credible threat, someone else will inform you of the situation. Ironwood and I are too high level to not be noticed giving out such details. Honestly, Titus, we don't expect anything to happen, so try and enjoy yourself tonight," Winter told him as the two of them left Ilia and Titus behind. Everything stopped for a moment as Weiss appeared at one of the entryways and made an announcement.

"It is with great pleasure and privilege that I can inform all of you that the ballroom is now open. There will be dinner and dancing, with the charity auction beginning shortly afterward this evening," Weiss declared. "Please enjoy yourselves. From the Atlesian Military, The Remnant Peace Council, the Schnee Dust Company, and myself, welcome and enjoy the ball." There was a quiet and civilized clapping as the mass slowly trekked the long porcelain and marble hallways to the ballroom. Ilia took in the architecture and intricacy of the building.

"You seem impressed," Titus said.

"I grew up in the slums, of course this is impressive," she told him.

"Well I'm glad you're enjoying the sights, but you need to be a little less obvious about it," he told her. "This is nothing new for the people that attend these social gatherings on a regular basis." She shrugged him off.

"And your commanding officer told us that we need to just enjoy ourselves today," Ilia reminded him.

"You know I don't do the greatest enjoying myself," he told her. She chuckled under her breath, taking his hand as they slowly made their way down the stairs into the ballroom and cameras flashed around them. Titus glanced over and noted several news stations setting up video cameras, making sure that they get the best angles and coverage of the event. It had turned into a full-blown multimedia frenzy, the public and press were eating it up, and it only made Titus more nervous towards the fact that something would happen. He greeted a few more of the sponsors and moved to the punch bowl, pouring a glass for both himself and Ilia.

"You still seem far too tense, and how am I supposed to dance with a gargoyle?" She asked. She extended her hand, waiting for him to take it and he smirked at her. As he reached for her hand he was approached by a member of the staff, a waitress that smiled and asked if he'd care for any hors-d'oeuvre. He shook his head before realizing who it was.

"Well if it isn't Kitsune again," Titus said with a sarcastic enthusiasm. "I suddenly get the worst feeling that you're our informant."

"Funny, I was hoping that you'd get the feeling that I was hitting on you," she told him. "I have this outfit rented out for the rest of the night, we could certainly put it to good use when we get back to the Officer's Quarters later." Ilia looked at Titus, shocked to find that he was blushing. She glanced back at the Faunus. She was attractive to be sure, and had an ample pair of breasts, but was that all it really took for Titus? He had only met her yesterday and it had been one of the most abrupt encounters that Ilia had been involved in. "Maybe you'll take me up on that offer?"

"We'll see," Titus replied. "How are things looking out there?" Ilia's jaw slacked as she stared at him.

"Nothing much happening big guy," she told him. She winked at Ilia and then moved away. "Catch you later?" Ilia watched as Kitsune left and then glanced up at Titus again, catching him watching the Faunus walk away.

"What is happening right now?" Ilia asked.

"What do you mean?" Titus asked. Ilia shook her head.

"Maybe it's just me," Ilia offered as she began to walk away.

"What are you talking about?" Titus pressed again.

"Nothing Modern Major General, just dance with me," Ilia requested again. He agreed after a long moment of internal protest and they shared a dance together, laughing and smiling as Ilia was impressed at Titus' skills, and Titus was trying not to lose it over Ilia's overly apparent two left feet. The song ended and Titus bowed, Ilia curtsying as another song started up and Titus offered his hand again.

"One more?" Titus asked.

"Mind if I cut in?" Asked a familiar voice. Titus turned slowly to face Camellia who wore the same dress she had the night of the dance in Beacon and she took his hand. "I'll only need to borrow him for a minute." Titus snatched his hand away and shoved Camellia back slightly.

"What are you doing here?" Titus asked.

"I thought that you'd be happier to see me, Titus," she told him.

"You thought wrong. You have about ten seconds to explain yourself before I turn you over to the authorities," Titus let her know. Camellia moved to Ilia, placing her fingers against Ilia's gloves and pressing firmly.

"They're very sure hands," Camellia said. "Were your weapons taken at the security check when you entered the building?" Ilia glanced at Titus. They had been, but she still had her butterfly knife secured to her thigh.

"Time's up," Titus informed her, gripping her arm tight and walking her across the room to Winter and Ironwood. He strong-armed her and shoved her at Winter who looked at Titus wide-eyed for a moment before grabbing Camellia herself.

"Camellia Admon?" Winter asked looking at the woman, still cautiously perplexed. "Titus, where did she come from?"

"She probably rode someone's body in here and released herself once she found me," Titus explained. "She's been working as the secretary at Beacon since I started attending, we last met up when Beacon held its dance only a month or so ago."

"Has she?" Winter asked. Titus glanced at the two of them.

"I just assumed that they knew about her criminal records and were wanting her to work where they could keep an eye on her. Otherwise, I would have told someone sooner," Titus explained. Winter flagged down one of the other officers that were incognito and forced them to hand over their cuffs, securing Camellia and shoving her out towards one of the sets of doors that led into the dance hall.

"Your next test it about to begin Titus," Camellia told him as she stumbled by, Winter moving her as quickly as she could without raising suspicion. Titus let the words sink in and as Winter passed through the doors with her captive, Titus quickly pushed through the mass, trying to reach them.

"Wait, what do you mean!?" Titus called out. The doors slammed in unison and Titus stopped in his tracks, glancing around the room as the music stopped and most of the staff moved to the doors, they wielded guns and yelled at the group to stay put and give up their money. This wasn't actually happening, was it?

"May I have your attention please?" A voice thundered over the speakers, someone had grabbed the microphone and were letting their presence be known. "Let me be the first to say that I will never be able to thank all of you entitled rich pricks enough for the donation that you're about to make to my cause. I know what all of you are thinking. You're scared. You'd like to get out of here alive. I don't blame any of you, and I'm more than willing to let all of you leave, with the exception of the Schnee and the General. But where are my manners, I haven't even given a name yet."

"Admon!" Titus called out. The entire attention of the room turned to focus on Titus and he heard the man chuckle loudly into the mic, moving to the bandstand and leaping onto the stage. Admon had a wicked smile on his face and he dropped the microphone, removing the gun from his back and aiming it at Titus. They both stared at each other for a long moment, all of the guests cowering in fear and covering their heads.

"Titus." He spoke. "You've come."

"I think the more interesting aspect of this meeting is the fact that you managed to get out of prison," Titus answered. Ilia slowly drifted through the crowd for Titus, hoping that Admon wouldn't notice her.

"Why else Titus?" Admon asked with a smile. "How is not important, the question you should be asking is why, and isn't it obvious?" Admon changed his view quickly, aiming at Ironwood and chuckling. "Why don't you tell me, Titus? I'd like to hear you tell me."

"Admon, if you do anything rash, I'll make sure that you die before you can leave this building," Titus said.

"That doesn't answer my question, Titus!" Admon shouted out. Despite his yelling, Admon seemed very calm, never taking his eyes off of Ironwood as his finger fell to the trigger. "Answer me or I will kill Ironwood."

"How do I know that you aren't going to shoot him even if I do answer you," Titus asked. Admon chuckled as he peered down the sights, his breath steadying.

"That's something you need to figure out, it's why I'm here," Admon spoke. "So I'll ask again now that I've handed the answer over to you. Why am I here?" Titus felt Ilia's hand on his shoulder.

"Where's Weiss?" Titus asked. A gunshot rang out and the bullet slammed into the wall beside Ironwood.

"You're stalling!" Admon shouted. He chambered another bullet and smirked. "I'm not here for Wiess! Tell me why I'm here Titus and then we can begin!" Titus was well aware of why he was here, it was almost as if Camellia was trying to warn him. Why would she betray her brother? It was probably more of a harbinger, Admon probably wanted Titus to be well aware that he was testing him again. Ilia gently shook his shoulder.

"Answer him," Ilia said in his ear barely audible. Titus swallowed hard.

"You're here to finish my training," Titus replied.

"Good." Admon told him. "But we aren't going to be able to get anywhere unless we get Ironwood out of the way. My sister is taking care of Winter as we speak, and I believe Kitsune was locked out with Weiss, so neither of them will pose an issue. It's just going to be you and me Titus, and this time, no one will be able to help you." Admon steadied his breathing again, Ironwood frozen in his sights. Ironwood had finally reached a point that could be considered old age, he had a horrible cough more often than not, his limbs shook when he felt anxious, and Winter had taken over the majority of his duties. He couldn't shoot first. He couldn't think his way out.

A gunshot rang out and the bullet crashed into the wall beside Ironwood again, Admon being jerked back and standing in stunned silence as the crowd panicked. The staff members that had been part of Admon's plan threatened the guests and silenced them once more, leaving them too frightened to move. Admon looked down at his shoulder, noting the butterfly knife that was lodged in his body. He glanced back at Titus.

"Who was that?" Admon asked. Admon leapt down from the stage, marching through the crowd, the people parting and tripping over each other to get out of the way. "Who  _was_  that? Who threw the knife, Titus?! It's not yours!" There was a flash of anger on his face and Titus glanced back. There was no one behind him or directly beside him, Ilia was hiding inside of his body. Titus smiled and watched as Admon shook violently.

"Maybe it was mine," Titus said. "Maybe I'm finally one step ahead of you. You leave Ironwood out of this. You let me have my weapons. We'll finish this like men." Admon laughed and shook his head, shooting Titus in the shoulder, jerking Titus back.

"There is someone else here, Titus, you shouldn't keep the truth from your commanding officer!" Admon shouted. "And even if there isn't, this is war, not a gentleman's agreement. You need to find a way to stop me and if you can't I'm going to get pissed and kill everyone here."

"You are not part of this military anymore! You are not my commanding officer! My commanding officers are General Branwen and Ironwood! You are a psychopathic killer who wants to make sure that I suffer, though I'm not so sure that it's due to my failures anymore! You weren't trying to get me alone to prove my strength to me, you wanted me alone because you knew that it would be your best chance to kill me! Sometimes you need the help of others to survive!" Titus shouted back. Admon shot him again in the same shoulder, jerking Titus back once more, Admon marching up to him and attempting to strangle him, shoving him to the wall.

"If only you knew how wrong you are!" Admon growled. "I wanted you to succeed on your own! You were to be my predecessor, I could have given you Atlas on a silver platter! You threw it away because you were scared!"

"If you're so strong on your own, why are you relying on all of these other soldiers? Hmm?" Titus asked prying back Admon's hands. "You don't have an answer, do you?" Titus kicked him back and rushed Ironwood before Admon could aim again, tackling the General and snatching his gun away. Titus stared Admon in the eyes as he aimed, the two swapped places and weapons, Admon standing over Ironwood with the General's gun, Titus trained on Admon with the rifle. Admon laughed.

"You truly are pathetic Titus," Admon chortled. "Did you forget that my eyes are my semblance? Did you forget that only Camellia and I can use that rifle?" Admon turned back to Ironwood, aiming the revolver at the man. "Is there anything you'd like to tell your 'General' before I kill him? Perhaps that he failed you? Maybe tell him that he should have stayed out of my way? The Taurus incident was necessary. The Mantle incident could have been our finest hour, Titus. Ironwood and Branwen, always getting in the way." Another gunshot. Screams.

Admon stumbled forward and Ironwood smashed his fist into the man's chest, cracking his ribs. Admon coughed up blood as he stumbled back, landing on his back and looking up towards Titus. Ilia stood in front of him, aiming Admon's gun at its owner and slowly moving in. Titus watched the scene unfold as he ran to Ironwood to check on him. Camellia had helped them. Titus had wondered at first, but once he was holding Ironwood's gun in his hands a few seconds ago, it was obvious. It was the reason that Camellia had made it a point to press her fingers against Ilia's gloves so that Ilia would be able to use Admon's rifle.

"Sir, are you alright?" Titus asked Ironwood.

"I'm fine," Ironwood told him. "You and your partner have done amazing work today."

"Admon!" Yelled a voice from across the ballroom. Admon found the voice, meeting their eyes and swapping places, two more of his men opening the door quickly and letting him out. Titus retrieved Ironwood's gun from the floor, Admon had dropped it during the hit to the ribs. He handed it to Ironwood who stepped forward through the crowd and stepped onto the stage with Titus. Ilia joined them a moment later.

"If I may have your attention please!" Ironwood shouted. "Anyone here who directly opposes the Atlesian Army has one of two choices. I know you men aren't killers and I'm now fully aware of the fact that the Faunus that were hired are members of the White Fang." Titus glanced at him before glancing out at the staff members. Traits. Ears. Eyes. Tails. Claws. What if Kitsune was a member of the Fang? Something seemed off the first time they met. "I know that most of you are not killers and were only hired to help Admon complete his goal, is that correct? Now I'm not sure what Athena told you to convince you to help this man, but he was responsible for the murder of countless innocent Faunus."

"We're willing to let you go with a full pardon if you open the doors now and let these guests leave," Titus added. Ilia smirked.

"Or you can take your chances and we'll find out how many of these people you can kill before I take you all out," Ilia spoke. "Wouldn't you rather live to see peace between humans and Faunus? Nobody has to die, Admon is gone. You'll all be free to go back to your families and enjoy the rest of your lives." There was a prolonged silence before one of the staff members opened the doors, prompting the rest to follow suit.

"How did you know they weren't killers?" Titus asked.

"Athena would never put these men in a high-risk situation if they were of value to her. Not to mention the fact that when Taurus helped Cinder, he did so because it benefited him and she'd strong-armed him into it. Admon poses no threat to Athena," Ironwood explained. "The Atlesian Military doesn't either, we've had no luck finding where they're hiding for months now."

"Do we go after Winter?" Ilia asked handing the rifle over to Ironwood.

"I'll assist Winter in her escort," Ironwood told them. "You two check on Weiss."

"Don't kill Camellia too quickly," Titus requested. "I need to have a word with her."

"Of course," Ironwood complied walking away. Titus nodded to Ilia and she followed him as he quickly made his way towards the last unopened set of doors. Titus pushed against them as Ilia glanced back at the crowd.

"Should one of us go after Admon?" She asked. Titus shook his head, slamming against the door again in vain but determined to follow through with making sure that Weiss was okay. "If he gets away, won't he just cause problems later?"

"That's true, but Weiss takes priority. Not to mention, even with his injury, he'd still be more than one of us could handle," Titus explained. Ilia nodded in understanding.

"In that case, I'll go get our weapons." Titus felt his scroll vibrate as she took off and he slammed into the door again. He'd have to answer later, he had a more pressing issue at hand.

* * *

The doors slammed behind Weiss and Kitsune as they left the ballroom and they both stopped for a moment, glancing back at the doors. Weiss moved to them, trying the handle only to find that she was unable to open it, despite both pulling and pushing as hard as she could. She glanced back at Kitsune who shrugged, moving to the door and thrashing against it numerous times, deciding that it wasn't going to budge.

"Mrs. Weiss Rose-Schnee. A word if I may," a woman asked coming towards them from the far end of the hall. She had a staff that contained a glowing rock on one end, a red dress that showed off just enough hugged tightly to her body. "I think we should discuss the SDC's plans to do any further harvesting of Dust on Menagerie."

"You must be Mattachanna Awinita," Weiss said. "Ghira informed me that you would be coming soon to tell me how you feel about the company's proceedings. He said that after you talked with me, you would be more receiving and open to what we're doing on Menagerie."

"Athena Taurus told me that you were planning on wiping out everyone on the island so that you'd be free to do with it as you like," Awinita explained. Weiss watched Kitsune step past her, pistol aimed towards Awinita and she grabbed the girl's arm.

"Wait," Weiss told Kitsune. "Let me talk to her first." Kitsune lowered her gun, allowing Weiss to slip past her and cut down the distance between her and Awinita. Kitsune retrained her gun and watched Weiss, her finger at the ready if necessary. "Awinita you can't listen to Athena, she's a maniac that just wants to see the world burn beneath her. Ghira spoke highly of you, you don't really think that the SDC plans to take Menagerie, do you?"

"Why wouldn't I?" She asked gripping her staff more tightly. "Atlas Military wiped out the White Fang before, despite the fact that they had been given orders not to!"

"That was a different situation, we had a rogue general leading our army at the time," Weiss explained.

"Are you aware of the fact that the White Fang are in the building?" Awinita asked. Weiss glanced back at Kitsune whose eyes were wide, stepping forward so that she stood beside Weiss.

"Ma'am, we need to get out of here, I feel that your life is in danger," Kitsune informed her. "Please continue to the room at the end of the hall and I will meet you there in a moment."

"I don't believe that she's a threat," Weiss told Kitsune. "Ghira trusts her, so I trust her."

"Perhaps his trust is misplaced in you, Weiss," Awinita suggested. She lifted her staff, it glowing brightly and prompting Kitsune to open fire. Lightning blasted out from the stone, throwing Kitsune back but failing to move Weiss who had opened a glyph between them, creating a sizable rock wall. "You can't hide for long!" A mechanical Ursa crashed through the window forcing Weiss to use speed glyphs to move quickly out of the way. It roared at Weiss who sprinted for the door, sliding to a stop as Awinita blocked her path.

"You don't need to do this!" Weiss shouted. Awinita fired lightning at Weiss who used several glyphs to divert the attack and send it into Bjorn. Bjorn let out another roar, leading Weiss to believe that her decision had been a bad idea. She glanced past Mattachanna, remembering that Myrtenaster was in the room behind her. She opened a gravity glyph, running through it and rushing Awinita, both of the women tumbling into the next door and Weiss summoning her Armor as she separated herself from the Faunus. Her Armor made its way to the door, swatting Bjorn back who slid through the hall, annihilating the rock wall that had been formed earlier. Titus smashed through the doors and ran to Kitsune.

"Where's Weiss?!" He yelled at her grabbing her up off of the floor and slamming her to the wall.

"Don't you think this is out of line?" She asked.

"The White Fang just tried to kill Ironwood, is Weiss their next target?" He demanded.

"I'm well aware, the woman in there with Weiss that has the deer tail is trying to kill her!" Kitsune yelled at him. She grappled him and trying to push him off. "For the love of Oum, Titus, would you listen to someone who is trying to help you for once, or did that psycho Admon really do a number on you? You do not need to do this alone!"

"My teammate is here, I'm not alone," he told her. "I think it might be better that I bind you and leave you here."

"Titus, don't do this," Kitsune told him. "I can help you!" Titus dragged her across the wall, moving her quickly out of the way of the Armor as it crashed into the wall, struggling against the mechanical Grimm. The Ursa clearly had the upper hand in strength and batted the knight away. Titus shoved her, letting her go.

"Fine. But if I even get the slightest itch that you're helping the Fang, I will run both of my blades through you," Titus told her. He began to leave, but Kitsune grabbed his arm. "Aka!"

"I've read your profile!" She told him. "You haven't finished semblance training, you can't use it unless you lose your aura, right?" He gritted his teeth and nodded. Why did they have to list that on his file? "Won't it help you fight that Grimm?"

"I'm not worried about him," Titus told her.

"If he beats the Armor, his next target will be Weiss," Kitsune told him. She grabbed his forearm, pulling him in. "I can be your catalyst." Titus felt a strange feeling wash over him, unable to push her away.

"What do you mean?" Titus asked. Kitsune planted a kiss on his lips, his eyes growing wide and it felt as though his life was being drained. Was she taking his aura somehow? He wanted to break away, but his body wouldn't let him, giving in further and caving into the kiss. She shoved him back and watched him fall to the ground.

"Call me if you live through this!" She yelled back as she took off after Weiss and Awinita, Titus watching her from the floor. She had stolen his aura, but at this point, he wasn't sure whether or not he should be grateful.  _If he beats the Armor, his next target is Weiss._  She wasn't wrong, but couldn't he have taken down the mech without losing his aura? Bjorn slammed the Armor through the wall, crashing back into the ballroom as Titus glanced over towards the carnage. That was bad… he needed to give up resisting.

"Titus, what the hell is…" Ilia began to ask but stopped short. She held out his swords, watching him stand up and reach for them. She hesitated before giving them up, her eyes looking him over. "You… You're… You are a gargoyle. Now it makes sense." Titus was covered in stone from head to toe, his eyes glowing white. He didn't say anything. "Titus. Why were you always so afraid that we'd find out? You know that we're here for you, Neela, Eliana and myself. It's absurd to think that we would have thought that you were a monster."

"It wasn't that," he told her. "I wanted to prove that I could be as strong as the rest of you without having to rely on this." Ilia chuckled.

"We all have to rely on our semblances sometimes," Ilia told him.

"All of your's don't push you to the point of death," he replied.

"I'd think it's better that way," she disagreed. "When most of us have our aura's break, we're at our most vulnerable. Not to mention, you got as good as you are  _without_  having to rely on that." He smirked and glanced back. "We can get more sympathetic later, you should probably go stop that creature." Titus nodded, sprinting through the hole in the wall and slamming his fist through the Grimm's jaw before it could attack the Armor again. Bjorn stumbled away, looking back at Titus, his attention leaving the knight.

"Ilia, get to Weiss!" Titus called out to her.

"Right!" She replied. She ran into the next room, watching as Weiss used her sword and glyphs to deflect and cut through the bolts of electricity that Awinita cast at the Schnee. Weiss opened a glyph in front of her, choosing gravity Dust and opening a second glyph behind the first, swiping her blade and compacting the two glyphs. It moved quickly forward, throwing Awinita back, knocking her off of her feet, Weiss forming a glyph behind the girl that created a small ice wall and keeping the girl in place with another glyph as soon as she stood.

"Mattachanna! Stop this! You can't defeat me, and fighting me is going to get you nowhere. I am not going to do anything to the people of Menagerie!" Weiss yelled at her.

"Lies!" Awinita yelled. "Only I can protect Menagerie now! All of you Schnees are the same! Bjorn!" Bjorn crashed into the room, sliding towards Awinita as Ilia and Kitsune opened fire on it, doing no damage as their bullets ricocheted off. The mech collapsed and the metal from its body reassembled on Awinita, forming a sort of power suit as it absorbed a massive amount of lightning from her staff. The joints of the armor lit up as she pointed her staff, one large bolt that branched out slamming into a glyph and surging harder, the girls still firing at Awinita to no avail. The lightning cracked the glyph, shattering it and throwing Weiss back into the wall as she quickly turned and blasted Ilia and Kitsune away. She moved to Weiss, shaking slightly as she pointed her staff.

"I can see that you're afraid Mattachanna. We can talk about this," Weiss pled as she lightly pushed off the wall. She manipulated Myrtenaster behind her back as she spotted Titus from the corner of her eye, placing speed glyphs leading to the Faunus, the girl now held in place with an additional glyph.

"Talking won't save my people!" Awinita screamed still shaking. Weiss was right, she didn't want to do this and she was afraid, but it was the only way to make sure that her people were safe.

"Prasinos." Awinita looked at Weiss confused.

"What?" She asked. Without warning Titus flew through the room, his fist crashing through her jaw and sending her airborne and crashing through the wall, the armor around her face shattering and landing about the room before reforming and flying back to its owner.

"What took so long?" Weiss asked. Titus looked back at her and smirked.

"If you would be so kind Dust Queen," Titus replied. "I don't think my kopides will cut it." She chuckled.

"I don't care much for puns," Weiss told him as she summoned the Armor's sword and Titus wielded it. Awinita charged at him as he sprinted for her, his massive blade meeting her staff, lightning dancing about the room and Dust particles glancing off. Titus met every physical blow as she managed to push him back for a moment with a stream of lightning, but he resisted and slowly pushed forward.

"What the hell are you?" Awinita yelled.

"The guy who ruined your plans of overthrowing the SDC," he answered. He swung again, pinning her staff and punching her in the gut, forcing her to double over as the armor betrayed her and moved out of the way of his blow. He kicked her in the face and she stumbled away, freeing her staff as she blasted the others in the room back again. The lightning grew at the end of her staff, filling the room and crawling over everything, Ilia had leapt inside of Kitsune who was being protected by a barrier formed by Weiss.

"I can't hold out all day here!" Weiss called out. "Whatever that weapon is, it's stronger than anything I've faced before!" Titus was grateful for the first time in a long while for his semblance and he rushed the girl again, she leapt back as he swung the Armor's sword once more, tossing it aside and throwing both of his kopides, they planted into the wall on each side of her. He moved in quickly, her inexperience showing as he kicked her back and into the wall, moving in and gripping his swords. He activated the blades, fire Dust erupting and destroying the wall as he ducked, an ice pike flying through the air and burying itself into Awinita's armor in the middle of her chest. She stumbled out of the building and Titus reached back in anticipation of the Armor's sword, but it didn't come.

"She's getting away!" He called out.

"She's not a fighter and she's not much older than you are," Weiss told him. "Let her go. She'll come around to her senses soon enough. I'll be sure to let the council know if they don't from the news." Titus nodded and looked back at Kitsune and Ilia who'd left the fox's body and he smirked. He pointed at Kitsune.

"Now I recognize you…" Titus exclaimed before collapsing. Ilia ran to him as Weiss and Kitsune slowly made their way over.

"Titus!" Ilia shouted.

"He'll be fine," Weiss told Ilia. "This happened after he bested the Giant Armor during his training also." Ilia looked up at Kitsune.

"How does Titus know you?" Ilia asked.

"He knew my father… or I should say, he killed my father. The Faunus that snuck into the SDC and threatened to blow the place sky high was my dad. I joined the military to undo the wrongs that my father had committed. Titus just helped the process along," Kitsune explained.

"Don't you resent him?" Ilia asked.

"My father had done horrible things and would have killed thousands of people," Kitsune told Ilia. "It almost seems that I'm in his debt." Weiss glanced around the room and sighed at the sight of the damage.

"Well at least we all made it out alive," Weiss declared. "Hopefully the rest of your winter break is a little less eventful." Ilia laughed.

"Hopefully."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Titus and Ilia managed to help protect Weiss from Admon and seemingly made an ally or two along the way. Next week, the next chapter of the Winter Arc. Chapter 48 - Friendzoned!
> 
> A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	52. Friendzoned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team CBLT are spending there time over Winter Break in a cabin, what could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Silent Celica here! Big thanks to everyone who has read the story and enjoyed it so far, this chapter (included with the trailers) makes it the one year anniversary of uploading NITE! There's way more to come and I hope you all like it as much as the first year!

"Cobalt, just how much money do your parents have?" Tawney asked in disbelief as he unlocked the door and opened it slowly, peeking inside at the old musky living room. His parents had bought a cabin back several years ago in the northern region of Vale but had only stayed in it once. The rest of Team CBLT entered in behind him as he jumped over the back of the couch and flopped onto it. The springs jabbed him in the back and the action kicked up dust, sending him into a coughing fit as he removed himself from the furniture. He pointed back towards the door, Lykos looking at him before looking where he pointed. A light switch, half of the cover was broken and the other half had the paint chipping off of it, revealing it to be a pale blue before it had been painted white.

Lykos flipped the switch but nothing happened and they all stared at Lykos. He shrugged, flipping the switch up and down repeatedly to no avail and Cobalt groaned as he made his way through the cabin.

"Cobalt!" Lykos called out.

"Relax! I'm just stepping out back to turn the power on. I forgot that dad told me we'd need to," Cobalt replied as a screen door slammed in the next room. Bái smiled as she looked around the barren room, the walls were authentic wood logs, and there was even a fireplace that appeared safe enough to use. She set down her bag and peered into the grate, opening it and stirring up the ash, causing the room to become even foggier. She grabbed one of the prods beside the hearth and poked around in the soot, feeling for any wood that might have been left behind, but unable to find any.

"Looks like we'll need wood," Bái told Lykos. He nodded and the power flickered on, something roaring to life in the cellar as the back door crashed close on its own again and Cobalt rejoined them giving them a thumbs up.

"We need a tour or not?" Cobalt asked.

"Where's the bathroom?" Tawney asked. Cobalt pointed towards the room he'd come out of.

"Outback behind the cabin," he told her. "Anyone else?" Bái raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Is there wood for the fireplace?" She asked him.

"It's at the bottom of the hill in the back here as well. Lykos and I will have to bring it in, but this fireplace is purely aesthetic. The noise that you all heard when I flipped the breaker was the furnace. Not a wood furnace mind you, just a standard heater." Cobalt smiled and rubbed his hands together. "Nobody wants the password for the Wi-Fi?" Lykos raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" He asked Cobalt.

"No, not really," Cobalt replied. "Rooms are upstairs. The shower is also upstairs."

"Wait, there's plumbing for the shower, but not the toilet?" Tawney asked.

"I try not to question things. You can always bathe in the lake if you'd prefer, I brought binoculars so we can make sure you're not attacked by any Grimm while you're over there," Cobalt informed her. She punched him in the gut and he groaned as he hit the floor. "The shower it is then."

"Anything else we should know pervert?" Tawney asked.

"I brought alcohol," Cobalt gasped. She grinned and pulled him to his feet.

"None of us are old enough to drink, the age limit is eighteen in Remnant, we're all only seventeen," Bái responded. Tawney laughed.

"It's just a little of the good stuff. No one needs to know. I might forgive him after all," Tawney replied.

"It's actually a lot of the…" Tawney socked him in the gut again, holding him up by the neck of his shirt. He nodded as he wheezed. "Yep… just a little." Tawney let go of him and he adjusted his clothes as he moved to the next room and Lykos followed. It was a small kitchen with a wood stove and some old rusted cast iron pots and skillets. "We could go get the firewood now." Lykos nodded.

"Fine by me," he replied.

"You ladies can get set up, Lykos and I will get the wood!" Cobalt called out.

"Is that a euphemism?" Tawney asked. Cobalt frowned and grumbled.

"No! We're getting logs for the fire!" He shouted back. He left the cabin through the back door with Lykos and they moved down the steep hill, Cobalt leading him to a pile of firewood and creating his clone to help with carrying it back up. "I have a question and I want you to hear me out before you get all pissed off like you normally do." Lykos shook his head and moved quickly up the hill.

"Cobalt…" He warned.

"Why won't you let you and Bái be a thing? It's clear that Bái wants it, what's holding you back?" Cobalt asked. Lykos stopped and the clone continued up the hill as Cobalt stopped behind his teammate.

"My father was an awful man who drank until he forgot his name on a regular basis. He'd come home plastered out of his mind, he'd spent every last dime he'd made that week on cheap booze and threw it back like water, it was a wonder that the man didn't die of alcohol poisoning, but I'm guessing his aura was his saving grace. When he'd come home he would demand that my mother make love to him. Sometimes she complied, but other times she wasn't in the mood or he was manhandling her. He'd rape her whenever she said no," Lykos spoke softly. He glared back at Cobalt. "I'm genetically predisposed to be an asshole, aren't I?"

"That's not who you are," Cobalt told Lykos. "You protect Bái better than anyone else in the school, you look at her the same way that she looks at you." Lykos exhaled loudly and headed back up the hill.

"Better safe than sorry," Lykos muttered. They placed the wood by the back door and headed back down, Lykos 'eager' to change the subject. "You and Tawney going to be a thing?"

"No. She's not interested in the least and if nothing else it just feeds into my fantasies. She knows that I'm just a horny SOB. Although if she ever agreed to it, I feel like I'd be hard pressed to say no," Cobalt explained. "At the same time, I don't want things to be awkward between us. I like when we egg each other on and don't get along, I feel like that's the way that things should be between us." Lykos smirked and nodded.

"If you say so," Lykos replied. He grabbed another pile and resumed his course as the gears slowly shifted in Cobalt's head.

"Wait, you normally don't care? Did she say something?! Did she say that she was interested?!" Cobalt pried. Lykos shrugged and grinned.

"I can't say really…" Lykos was cut off.

"So she did! I won't say that you said anything! Maybe I can get my happy ending, after all, no pun intended. I'll just act like a real gentleman and I should have no issue getting the Tawney ending," Cobalt rambled.

"Did you just compare her to a dating sim?" Lykos asked.

"I am a very lonely guy, okay?" Cobalt shouted.

"Stop yelling!" Tawney called from upstairs. Cobalt gritted his teeth and glanced up at her in the window.

"Sorry!" He answered. She looked at him for a long moment before closing the window and going back inside. He looked at Lykos. "How was that?"

"I think you noticed her, senpai," Lykos offered sarcastically. Cobalt furrowed his brow.

* * *

"Okay, okay! But listen, okay?!" Tawney exclaimed as she clutched her beer and swung it around in an animated manner. The fire crackled and they all laughed as Lykos sat beside Bái on the floor, as Cobalt and Tawney shared the couch. Tawney shushed them and looked at Cobalt hard for a moment. "And I know what you're going to say and trust me pal, it would take way more than one beer from the Vale distillery to make me feel even the slightest bit drunk, okay? But anyways, I was at the height of my career in Mistral, every underground fight club knew that I was The Maniac and that I was at the top of the food chain, despite the fact that I was only sixteen. It was amazing!

No one could beat me in a one on one and that's why I decided to come to Beacon when things took a turn for the worse. They placed bets on us constantly, gambling was just as important as fighting, but I took pride in being number one more than anything else. A man came to me and said that they wanted to me throw my next fight but I refused. A friend gave me advice about leaving the city after my match that night, but I didn't get the chance. Four men attacked me in an alleyway afterward and left me for dead. That's where Sterling Stratford found me as he was walking the city with the police the next day as they were going over a crime report for the last month. He rushed me to the hospital and upon being discharged I was escorted to Beacon by the Mistrali Military and told that Stratford had recommended me to the school. I don't think I can thank him enough to be honest."

"Who is this Stratford guy?" Lykos asked.

"Runs the military and is the Remnant Peace Council representative for Mistral," Tawney explained. There was a pause before Tawney smirked and took another swig of her brew. "Alright, who is next? Someone has to have a great story, right?" She pointed at Cobalt. "What about you captain? There has to be more to you than meets the eye, right?"

"Not really," Cobalt explained. "Sometimes I wish that I had a cool backstory like all of you do, but my family was really pretty normal."

"Nothing wrong with normal," Bái told him. He chuckled.

"Yeah, I know, but superheroes don't have normal backstories, they have a tragedy like all of you," Cobalt said. Tawney shook her head.

"You must want to be a hero pretty bad that you'd rather have tragedy than normalcy," she declared. "You're our leader, aren't you? You top us in brains, and you helped Bái with her outbursts. I'd say you're pretty heroic the way you are Thenard." He smirked.

"Thanks," he replied. Lykos shifted and reached around the hearth, grappling a log and placing it into the fire, Bái pulling a blanket up over her shoulders.

"It's getting late," Lykos said.

"So, it's not like we have to be anywhere for the next week," Bái teased yawning. Lykos shook his head.

"You're getting tired," Lykos told her.

"I'm not sleepy," Bái answered. She leaned her head against Lykos' shoulder and made herself comfortable as her eyes tried to stay open. "Not sleepy at all."

"I have a story if you can stay awake for it," Cobalt told her. Bái sat up and her eyes became wide.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It's the legend of the Migoi," Cobalt told her. Her eyes filled with wonder. Tawney took another drink and watched him, wondering what he was up to. "Legend has it that the Migoi Grimm can be found in this very area of Vale, though he's much harder to spot in the winter and extremely dangerous. He's as large as a Beringel, but with more fur and it's adapted to the snow. His fur is white, with black bone plating on his shoulders, knees, chest, and face. It has large sharp fangs and screeches when it sees something that it wants to attack."

"Wow…" Bái gasped stupefied.

"There's no such thing as a white Grimm," Tawney replied.

"Why not? Older Grimm evolve as they see the need," Cobalt offered.

"I'm with Tawney on this one," Lykos said. Cobalt shrugged.

"Alright, don't say that I didn't warn you. Let's get to bed though, Lykos is right, it's getting late," Cobalt told them. Bái stood, stretching and yawning, climbing up the stairs with Lykos behind her.

"Goodnight!" Bái yawned.

"Goodnight!" Tawney called back smiling. Cobalt took her bottle from her and took it to the kitchen before returning and sitting on the couch.

"You need anything else?" He asked her. She smiled and chuckled, shaking her head.

"No." She answered softly. "You just seem different." They sat in silence for a moment before Tawney stood.

"Is that a bad thing?" He asked. She shook her head.

"No. You seem more personable," she told him. "I kind of like it." He smirked and nodded at her.

"Goodnight, Maniac," he told her. She smiled before heading up the stairs.

"Goodnight, Cobalt."

* * *

Cobalt drifted to sleep on the couch slowly, all of the rooms and beds had been taken upstairs and he was more than happy to accommodate the others. He spent at least half an hour on his scroll after Tawney had left, reading a message from his mom reminding him where the towels were in the cabin, and a message from Neela asking how they were doing. Neela was what a leader should look like. Cobalt had been struggling with that recently. He needed to be more of a leader. He checked social media once, nothing of interest to speak of, and checked his anime hub for any updates. He closed his eyes and his mind swept itself into slumber until the sound of someone coming down the stairs woke him up.

He hesitated, contemplating opening his eyes but deciding against it, more than likely one of the girls on their way through to the outhouse. His breathing remained steady, though it felt like the person was coming closer, he could hear them breathing until it seemed they were right on top of him… and then they were. They had straddled his lap and moved to his neck, kissing him gently and forcing him to wake up. This was a dream. It had to be, there was no other logical explanation and he decided to play along. He opened his eyes and found Tawney suckling gently at his neck. He chuckled.

"My being a gentleman turned you on, huh?" He asked. She nodded.

"Yes. I didn't want to admit it to myself at first, but after lying in bed restlessly for an hour, I knew I had to come back down," she replied breathily kissing him softly, but fervently. Her breath was hot on his skin, her breathing heavy as she climbed up him even further and kissed his lips full of passion and hunger. He returned the favor, their mouths exploring each others' as their tongues danced around, savoring the moment. Tawney pushed herself up off of him and removed her hoodie, revealing a decent rack that was held up by a lace push up bra. "This is what you wanted, isn't it?" He nodded. Normally his dreams never went this far.

"What made you want this so badly?" He asked as she slipped his shirt off of him and cast it away. She traced the middle of his chest with her finger until she reached his waistline.

"You've been different. You've been acting like a man, Cobalt. You bought me that CD I wanted, you've been treating me better, you and Lykos even went and got firewood for us. Plus you told Bái that story earlier when she didn't want to sleep yet," she told him. "There's a true leader in you yet…" She leaned down and moved to his ear. "Let me help draw it out of you."

"How do propose we do that?" He asked. She chuckled and blew lightly in his ear as she sat back up and reached back for her bra strap, Cobalt's self-awareness rushed to his body and his eyes became wide. What was happening? This wasn't a dream, Tawney was actually on his lap and she was stripping for him. He shifted as she slipped the straps off of her arms and held the bra in place with her left arm. "Tawney… Tawney wait!" She laughed.

"Soaking it all in?" She asked. Cobalt tried to slide back but she refused to move as she dropped her bra. Cobalt's heart pounded against his chest as he took in the sight of her breasts, his body still desperate to be frantic. "Like what you see? Don't just stare, they need to be handled."

"Shit… shit… shit…" He muttered under his breath. She leaned over him again, her breasts squished against his chest as she kissed him.

"Nervous?" She asked. He pushed her off and leapt up off of the couch. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"This isn't right!" He exclaimed. She picked up her bra off of the floor and put it back on, adjusting her boobs and looking around for her hoodie.

"We're kids Cobalt, it's what we do. We fuck each other like crazy and then act like it didn't happen the next day," she told him.

"Don't get me wrong, I want to, it's just…" He tried to explain but she cut him off.

"What?" She asked. "Just what?!"

"It feels wrong!" He exclaimed. She shook her head and laughed incredulously.

"I don't know what I was thinking. You're right Cobalt, let's just go back to being assholes to each other!" She yelled.

"Isn't it better that way?" He asked.

"I suppose it is, but you at least could have railed me good before we went back to being a couple of jackasses!" She shouted back.

"I don't want to ruin what we have!" He yelled. The light in the upstairs hallway was flipped on and Lykos appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Could you two quiet it…" Lykos stopped mid-sentence when he realized that Tawney was topless and left without a word. Tawney sighed and found her sweater, pulling it on and heading back up the stairs.

"You're kind of different, aren't you?" Tawney groaned as she made her way back up the stairs. Cobalt watched as she disappeared. He was okay with this result, right? With the exception of the lingering pain in his crotch… Cobalt sighed as he stepped out the back door.

"Goddammit!" He shouted. "No, yeah, she's right, there must be something wrong with me! I saw her tits! They were right there, they brushed against my skin, completely bare!" He flopped into the snow, the cold, white fluff cooling him off. "Grrrrrrrraw!" He seethed before leaping to his feet. "Okay! Cold, cold!" He was about to re-enter the cabin when he spotted something out in the woods and gingerly made his way towards it, his bare feet padding softly in the snow as he swiftly moved in. Something large was moving around, causing a stir in the forest and rustling around. Cobalt had a hard time making it out.

He strafed slowly to his right, never taking his eyes off of the mass as he moved in closer, hoping to get a better look. It turned towards him and he could make out the black bone plates and red eyes. A Migoi?! Cobalt had heard the story from his parents, but he didn't think that it was an actual Grimm! Cobalt slowly stepped back towards the cabin, stepping on a branch that broke and drew the attention of the beast. It let out a blood-curdling screech and Cobalt took off for the cabin, slipping and tumbling across the snow, Maybe he was dreaming! Maybe he was wrong about being awake earlier!

"Help!" Cobalt shouted out. "For the love of Oum!" Tawney threw open the window and spotted the Migoi, grabbing her weapons from her bag and rushing into the hall.

"Guys! We've got a problem!" She yelled as she leapt down the stairs.

"What's going on?" Bái asked. Lykos shrugged and leaned across her, turning the lamp on and sitting up.

"Well, either there's something going on outside, or Cobalt forgot condoms," Lykos told her. He slid out of bed and pulled on a shirt, grabbing up his whip and heading down the stairs with Bái behind him in her nightgown. "I swear if it's the latter, I'm going to beat someone to a pulp."

"Guys!" Cobalt yelled. Lykos heard Tawney open fire and he quickly moved out to the yard, spotting the Migoi and freezing.

"I thought that story was a myth!" Lykos yelled.

"So did I!" Cobalt replied rolling out of the way. Cobalt formed his clone and distracted the monster as snow and ice twisted around Bái, she covered herself in a partial ice armor, wielding a sword. "Bái, wall! Now!" Bái throw up an ice barrier between Cobalt and the monster as it swung down, denting the ice slightly. "Lykos, a distraction!" Lykos ran out towards Cobalt's clone, appearing to the Migoi as a Beowulf and staying just ahead of its attacks.

"I got it!" Tawney called out. Bái formed an ice slick which Tawney slid across, blasting the Grimm in both ankles as she glided between its legs. Lykos followed suit, persuading the Grimm to reach down for him and snagging a leg with his whip, meeting with Cobalt's clone as the two of them pulled the Migoi off of its feet.

"Bái!" Called out the clone.

"She's got this," Lykos reassured him. A large ice pike formed above the beast and slammed down into its chest, but only pierced the skin. "It's not dead yet!"

"I think we can remedy that," Tawney told them. She joined her weapons together and blasted apart Bái's ice wall, revealing the real Cobalt on the other side with his sword trained on the beast's head.

* _PROBABILITY OF FATALITY… 100%*_

Cobalt fired, the laser cleanly removing its head and the creature fading into smoke and being carried off into the night sky. They all looked at each other as Cobalt collapsed into the snow again.

"Well, that was fun," Cobalt groaned as his clone disappeared. "Let's try to avoid anymore Grimm the rest of our vacation, okay?"

"Sure," Lykos chuckled as he left with Bái. Tawney swatted him on the ass with her shotgun and he jumped slightly as he pushed himself up.

"Wanna try starting over from the couch?" Cobalt asked.

"Nope," she replied. He chuckled.

"Good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It looks like Cobalt knows where his priorities lie (kind of). Next week, more of the Winter Break arc in Chapter 49: The Gift!
> 
> Another artist to add to the list! Nliast made us some chibi icons just in time for the one year anniversary of our first upload! 
> 
> A big thank you to Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	53. The Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neela takes Eliana home for Winter Break and finally gives her the gift she's been withholding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers? Well, RT knocked it out of the park with their lore and murdered mine in the process but hey, you'll have that.

 

Neela and Eliana stepped off of the airship at Signal and made their way home through the lightly dusted path across the snowy, rolling plains of Patch that divided the forest evenly down the middle, homes and cabins scattered along the dirt road that led to their childhoods. Eliana's purple hair and top contrasted against the white landscape, even in the dead of winter the girl couldn't be bothered with wearing a coat. She kicked at the snow, bending over and attempting to form a snowball but it fell apart, too much fluff and not nearly compact enough to hold together. Eliana wiped her hand through it and stood back up, glancing back at Neela and smiling.

"Isn't it great!? It never snowed like this in Mistral, I still get super excited about it!" Eliana declared.

"You're too genuine Elli," Neela beamed at her. Eliana returned the smile and dropped her bag, running out into the field and flopping onto her back. "Elli! Come on, you've got to be freezing!"

"So what if I am!? Come make a snow angel with me Neela, just like when we were kids!" Eliana called out. Neela laughed.

"We're seventeen Elli, we aren't little kids anymore!" Neela called out. Eliana sat straight up and gave Neela the smile that always broke her walls down and roped her in. She couldn't say no, she never had a reason to. Neela dropped her bag and trudged out through the snow, throwing herself onto the ground beside Eliana and spreading her arms and legs to form her angel. It was ridiculous, but as long as it made Eliana happy, Neela would do it. Nothing made Neela happier. They both leapt up and stepped gingerly away.

"You call that an angel?" Eliana asked. "Mine looks better."

"Yeah, cause you're not wearing a coat. Cold yet?" Neela asked as she brushed the snow off of Eliana's sides. Eliana shuddered and shivered, shaking her head.

"No," Eliana said flatly. "We're huntresses, a little cold never killed anyone!"

"You never looked at it that way for the first couple of years that you lived here," Neela reminded Eliana. Eliana picked her and Neela's bags back up. She handed her best friend her pack back and Neela nodded, thanking her as they continued down the path.

"I have a bone to pick with you," Eliana told her.

"Oh?" Neela asked.

"The Vytal fest is coming up next year, we're already three-eighths of the way through year one and neither of us has begun training. As a matter of fact, I'm guessing that you haven't even come up with a name yet for my guns," Eliana pried. Neela cast her a side glance and shrugged her off.

"Do you have a name for my bow?" Neela asked. Eliana laughed.

"Of course I do," Eliana answered.

"Well, what is it then?" Neela questioned. She had Eliana on the ropes, or at least she thought.

"How about you tell me what you got me for Winter Festival, and I'll tell you what I named your bow," Eliana replied.

"You're clever," Neela told her with a smirk. "But like I said at the beginning of the school year, we really don't need to start worrying about that until next year."

"We don't get better by sitting around and doing nothing," Eliana reminded her. Neela gave her a shove. "Hey!"

"Elli, we've been training like crazy so far this year. Just because we aren't specifically training for the tournament doesn't mean that we aren't getting better and ready for it. Just think about the kids from the other schools, I'm sure that none of them have hands-on experience like we did against the Stardust Gang. Not to mention we have another team that comes close to equaling us and pushes us further," Neela informed Eliana. "As long as we stick with it and do our best, we'll be fine."

"You're probably right," Eliana agreed. "I can't wait to see my mom, I've only seen her once since we got to the school. I have so much that I want to tell her but first I want to show her these guns that you helped Atlas make. They're so amazing! She'll be just as impressed at how much they look like dad's. Really the greatest thing I've ever gotten!"

"I'm flattered Elli, but I'm sure you've gotten better gifts from your mother or father before," Neela told her. Eliana shook her head.

"We were poor, I usually got socks," Eliana laughed and Neela joined her. A welcomed silence as they took in the serenity and crossed over the crest of the final hill, Violet's home visible from the top, the woman standing on the porch wrapped in multiple blankets, teacup in hand and waving gently as she spotted her daughter. Neela smiled as she spotted Violet and waved as well, a warm feeling coming over her. This was it. They were coming home after months of training for a break and it was the best feeling that Neela had known. Not to mention she got to spend it "alone" with Eliana which made it even better, and possibly the best opportunity she'd had since the beginning of the year to discuss her feelings with her. She was still nervous about what Eliana might say and how she might react, but it was less terrifying than the idea of losing her to Tawney or Ivory.

"Hi, mom!" Eliana shouted out and it echoed out across the bare, quiet island. Neela knew that Violet was probably laughing, and she pushed Eliana forward, the girl breaking out into a sprint to her home. Neela smiled. Eliana and Violet had always been affectionate towards each other, they had helped each other through her father's death after all. They hugged, Eliana sweeping her mom off of her feet and spinning her around before setting her back down and kissing the woman's forehead. Neela slowly made her way to the house, Eliana trying to rush her from the porch. "Hurry up Neela! At this rate, our winter break will be over before you even get here!"

"I'm coming!" Neela called back picking up the pace slightly. She reached the top of the steps and gave Violet a long and welcoming hug.

"Hello Neela," Violet spoke with a smile that rivaled Eliana's. Neela mirrored it and opened the door.

"Hi Violet," she replied as she ushered the two in past her. Neela was the last to enter, closing the door behind her gently and setting her bags down momentarily. She stretched.

"Look at the two of you," Violet said. She shuffled into the kitchen, shedding the blankets on the sofa on her way through. "I can't believe how much the two of you have grown."

"It can't be that much mom, we're pretty much done growing," Eliana said. Violet laughed as she opened the cabinet, tracking down the hot cocoa and struggling to reach it. Neela spotted her from the entryway and moved to help her, Eliana had already flopped down and sprawled out on the couch. Neela retrieved it for her and was thanked with a nod as the woman returned to her work in a frantic tizzy, moving quickly to prepare the drinks. Neela did her best to keep up, but the woman was determined and practically pushed her out of the way.

"I didn't mean physically dear," Violet replied. "When I saw the two of you at the top of the hill, I still saw my daughter and her best friend, but I also saw more, something else, something deeper. I saw a girl who was slowly coming into her own and was living up to the benchmark she'd set for herself to make her father proud. And I saw a girl who I might dare say is now a woman, experienced and confident in herself in all matters." She winked at Neela and glanced back at Eliana, moving close to Neela and whispering. "Well, most matters."

"Did my moms tell you?" Neela asked. Violet shook her head laughing as she set the water to boil on the stove.

"Honey, I've known for longer than even you or your mothers. I saw the same look in your eyes that Alexander gave me the first couple of times we met, and it just keeps getting stronger each time I see the two of you together," Violet explained.

"That bad huh?" Neela asked.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of Neela. When you're ready to tell her, it'll just come out. You won't know where the words came from, and you won't be able to stop them," Violet answered as she measured out the powder.

"What are you two being sneaky about in there?" Eliana asked.

"I'm telling her your darkest secrets," Violet said with a wink. Eliana leapt up.

"You leave Mr. Snuggles out of this!" Eliana shouted running into the kitchen.

"Mr. Snuggles?" Neela asked with an evil grin. Eliana grabbed her mom by the shoulders and pushed her away.

"No!" Eliana shouted.

"Elli had a stuffed Ursa that she slept with every night until she was about seven," Violet explained.

"Mom!" Eliana yelled blushing.

"Why didn't I hear about this before Elli?" Neela asked. Eliana became even redder and walked out the back door.

"I'll be out here shooting things! Follow at your own risk!" She called back. Neela and Violet laughed as Violet continued her work and Neela stood beside her, watching Elli out the window.

"She's something else," Neela said with a gleam in her eyes. Violet glanced at Neela and laughed softly.

"She's so much like her father Neela. To retain such innocence, but have such passion for fighting injustice and being fully aware of the cruelties of life. Alexander was the same way. I think he's guiding her. I think he's been with her every day, every step of the way since he left us he's watched her. I can feel his warmth when she smiles. I can feel his embrace when she laughs. I can feel his love when she hugs me. I'm sure you can see it too," Violet said. Neela watched as Eliana shot at some of her old targets in the woods, a specter that appeared to wear a uniform gently held her elbow up and spoke to her, smiling. Neela nodded as her imagining of him disappeared.

"I just wish she knew how I feel," Neela told Violet. Violet poured the water and tsk'd.

"Now that is something that you'll have to tackle on your own," Violet told her. "But you have my blessing Neela. I cannot imagine anyone better for my daughter to love and spend the rest of her life with. The two of you were so close to each other, you still are. You've taken on each other's pain time and time again. She loves you more than you know and I think it's only a matter of time before your hearts become one. I know you'll keep her safe. I know that you'll love her forever." Neela looked at Violet, holding back the emotions that overtook her with the woman's confession and noting the tears in Violet's eyes.

"I will love her forever," Neela repeated back. Violet laughed despite the tears.

"I know! I want nothing more than for the two of you to be happy Neela," Violet replied. She sniffed hard and wiped her eyes. "Look at me getting all sappy for no reason. The hot chocolate is done, you want to call her in?" Neela nodded and opened the door, stepping out into the backyard, watching as a shadow of her younger self sprinted by with Eliana.

"Wait!" Eliana called out. "You're faster than me!" Neela turned around and watched as her friend caught her breath.

"Come on, Elli! We're never going to be as strong as our parents if you keep stopping!" Neela called back. Eliana groaned and fell dramatically to her knees.

"But I'm dying!" Eliana moaned. Neela shook her head, walking to Eliana and extending a hand.

"I'd never let you die Elli, and I'd never leave you behind. I like you too much!" Neela declared. She laughed as she pulled Eliana to her feet. Eliana smiled.

"I like you too!" Eliana told her. "Do you think we'll be friends forever Neela?" Neela's face contorted.

"What kind of question is that? Of course we will! We'll never be apart, and if we ever were, I'd come find you!" Neela reassured her. Eliana laughed.

"Not if I found you first!" She chased Neela away and the scene faded, Eliana standing directly in front of her and gazing into her eyes.

"What is it, little hawk?" Eliana asked. Neela smiled.  _You. It's always you._

"The hot cocoa is ready," she told Eliana. Eliana nodded and pushed past her.

"And here I thought you were going to try and kiss me again," Eliana said with a wink. Neela's mind scrambled for a moment.  _Why does it have to be you!?_  She chased after Eliana and entered the house, taking her mug and moving into the living room with the mother and daughter. She sat on the couch beside Eliana, Violet in her rocking chair across from them. "Getting old mom?"

"No, I just prefer the rocker. I'm only twenty-four years older than you missy," Violet protested. It was met with laughter as a switch flipped in Eliana's head.

"I have to show you something!" Eliana exclaimed. She unholstered the guns and ran to her mother, kneeling in front of her and showing them off.

"These are your father's," Violet said, a slight confusion in her voice. "Where did… How did you get these?"

"Neela had her Aunt Weiss make replicas!" Eliana exclaimed. Violet smiled at Neela knowingly once more and turned her gaze back to Eliana.

"Neela's pretty amazing," Violet admitted. Eliana laughed.

"I've known that all along," she said proudly. Eliana flopped carelessly back onto the couch, slurping loudly on her drink and smelling the air. Something wafted in the air and she couldn't put her finger on it, but it smelled familiar. Eliana raised an eyebrow and looked at her mom. "That smells good, what is that?" Violet smirked as she stood, making her way into the kitchen.

"Can't you tell?" Violet asked. "Neela asked me to make it. It's the meal that we used to make when dad was still alive on Winter Festival." Eliana shook as she set her mug down on the coffee table beside her and stood, her hand covering her mouth as she shook her head. Her face was twisted in agony as the tears poured from her eyes and she stepped back towards the door. Neela stood in confusion and watched Eliana open the door.

"No…" Eliana gasped.

"Elli, wait!" Neela exclaimed as she rushed out and slammed the door. Neela glanced back at Violet who frowned but nodded at her. Neela took off after Eliana. "Elli!"

"No!" Eliana cried out as Neela gained on her, Neela had always been faster and Eliana's sobbing made her breathing erratic. Neela caught up to her, wrapping her arms around her best friend as the girl thrashed violently against her.

"Elli. Calm down." Neela spoke sternly.

"It's not right!" Eliana cried out. She pushed away from Neela. "It's not right! That was his meal! Mom made it for him!"

"She made it for both of you and I thought you'd want to remember him by having it again!" Neela yelled at her. Eliana stopped crying and became still for a long moment. "I just wanted you to be happy Eliana! This was the gift I thought up for you! I don't want you to think of your father as being gone, I've noticed it more the past few weeks. He's still with you! Look in the mirror! Look at your guns! Realize the path he put you on! Enjoy the dinner he enjoyed!" Eliana's eyes searched Neela's for a moment before throwing herself at the Faunus.

"It still hurts… it still hurts, Neela, even though he's been gone so long," Eliana whimpered.

"We will always carry the pain of loss with us," Neela explained. "But we can choose to let it control us or make us stronger. Your father is still with you Elli. I can see it as plain as your mother does. I'm sorry I hurt you, Elli."

"No!" Eliana shouted wiping her eyes and looking up at Neela. "You've never hurt me, Neela. You make me happier than you can possibly know, I'm glad you're my best friend! You're the greatest thing that happened to me since my dad died and you always look out for me and do your best to make me smile. You never leave me behind and if we ever ended up apart, you'd come find me!" Eliana smiled and Neela pulled her in as they held each other.

"Not if you found me first," Neela replied softly. Eliana pushed Neela back playfully and laughed.

"Of course I'd find you first!" Eliana hollered as she chased Neela back up to the house. They threw open the door and Violet looked up from the table in the kitchen, smiling and waving them in.

"Dinner's ready!" Violet declared. Eliana smiled as she puffed out her chest and stepped past Neela.

"Vi, we have roast nearly every night, couldn't you have gotten a turkey or something a bit more eloquent for Winter Festival?" Eliana asked. Violet teared up as she laughed, pulling out the chair for Eliana and rubbed the top of her head.

"Shut up and eat your food Alex," Violet replied. Eliana laughed and grunted as Violet pushed her seat in too far. Eliana glanced back at Neela.

"Is she like this when I'm gone, Elli?" Eliana asked. Neela laughed and took her seat and Violet followed suit.

"I hope it's okay, Neela. It's nothing special," Violet told her. Neela smiled at them.  _But it's special to both of you._

"I'm sure it'll be the best roast I've ever had," Neela replied. Eliana and Violet both laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Eliana received her gift from Neela and it was everything she could have hoped for. Next week, Chapter 50 - The Bird.
> 
> A big thank you to Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	54. The Bird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliana and Neela visit the Xiao Longs to finish out Winter Break, but there's an unexpected guest who shows up.

"Welcome to the finale of the Vytal Festival and it sure has been an exciting one, but let's get the obvious details out of the way, shall we?" Oobleck's voice thundered through the arena over the PA. "The heart, soul, and pride of Beacon and all of Vale, Neela Xiao Long, has made it to the finals which really isn't that much of a surprise after looking at the track record that this girl has, but her no-name competitor may put a quick end to her winning streak. Let's hear a warm welcome and round of applause for Ebony who hails from Mistral." Neela heart stopped as her opponent faced the arena and she looked around at the crowd, all of their faces dark as they were silenced.

"You?" Neela stuttered, stumbling over the words.

"This time I'll finish you!" Ebony declared.

"Help me!" Neela called to her teammates, but it seemed as though none of them heard her. "Help!"

"What's wrong? Not strong enough?" Ebony asked. She charged at Neela and attacked, as her dagger glanced off of Neela's sword there was a burst of light and Orion replaced her.

"You're not strong enough to take me on? Have you been sleeping through Beacon? Too worried about that cute friend of yours?" Orion asked. They exchanged blows and Orion laughed. "How about another scar for that beautiful face, huh?" Another transformation and she was standing across from Sirius.

"You play hero but you're just a child!" He declared.

"She thinks she's better than us because of her name!" Tawney yelled from the stands. The arena faded and Neela was falling endlessly into an abyss.

"She thinks she's untouchable!" Lykos called.

"Notice me Eliana-tan!" Bái howled.

"She doesn't care about our problems!" Cobalt yelled.

"If I was in charge, we would have defeated the Stardust Gang," Titus exclaimed.

"So worried about her scar instead of preventing more!" Ilia pointed out. Neela finally hit the bottom and scrambled to her feet, surrounded by nothingness.

"You love me?" Eliana's voice called out from the darkness. Neela trembled, waiting for the next words out of her mouth. They never came. Instead, the nothingness became a small, burning, collapsing shack and Neela could see her mothers on the other end.

"You'll be safe with us Neela!" Blake called out. Neela ran for them, but as she did the room stretched, she never seemed to get any closer and as she did, Wilt cut them both down. The room crumbled around her and Athena loomed behind her, laughing unpleasantly.

"Once you're part of the Fang, Neela, you can never get away!" Athena shouted as she cut Neela down. Neela woke up in a frenzy, her body kicking about as she came back to reality, but she was already shouting and flailing which woke Eliana who took the initiative to check on her. She ran from the other side of the room and held Neela's head to her chest.

"Neela. It was just a dream, calm down. What happened, what was it?" Eliana asked. Neela's eyes still searched the room frantically, but the warmth of Eliana's bosom on the side her face calmed her and she slowed her breathing, allowing it to steady. Her mind continued its work, coming to the realization that her ear was  _very_  warm, and that Eliana had stripped down to only her bra at the very least. They were soft and full…. And warm and… Neela pulled away and blushed hard, looking away and out the window beside the bed. "Are you okay?" Neela nodded frantically.

"Yeah. Like you said, it was just a dream," Neela replied.

"Want to talk about it?" Eliana asked sitting down on the bed beside her.

"No. I'm fine, really. You can head back to bed," Neela reassured her as she laid down, still facing the wall. She managed to get comfortable and as she was about to drift off she felt Eliana's arms wrap around her and she froze.  _Am I_   _being spooned?! Oh my Oum, I am! Eliana… Why do you do this to me?!_  "Eliana?"

"Shhhh." Eliana hushed her. "This always helped us when we were younger." Neela tried to pry Eliana off, but the girl squeezed harder.

"We were younger Elli! Don't you think this is a bit risqué?" Neela asked. Eliana peeked over Neela's shoulder.

"What's risqué about it?" Eliana asked. "You've got boobs. I've got boobs. Just girly things, am I right?" Neela tried to shrug her off again. "Would you rather be the big spoon?" Neela looked back at her. "I knew that was the problem."

"Elli, I don't think…" Eliana had already released Neela and rolled over before any protests could be made, rubbing her ass against Neela's.

"Come on," Eliana told her. "I'm not moving, so you'd better get to spoonin'." Neela rolled over, staring at Eliana's bareback, with the exception of her bra strap and steadied her breathing. She was getting so worked up over something silly, right? She slipped her arm under Eliana's neck and draped her left arm over Eliana's side, it rested on her stomach. She could feel Eliana's happiness as the girl squirmed to get comfortable. "See, just like old times."

"Yeah," Neela sighed happily. "Like old times." She let the thoughts of failure drift from her mind.

Light crept into the window in the morning, waking Neela up before Eliana and she gently squeezed her hand, feeling that it had been filled with something but she couldn't quite place the sensation in her mind. It felt familiar and she manipulated it in her hand, kneading it as Eliana chuckled and groaned lightly. She shifted but didn't immediately wake up, leaving Neela to try and peek over her body but unable to move much. Neela's mind smoked and sputtered until it fully awoke, it dawned on her that she was cusping something, a fabric in her hand.

"I never agreed to being groped," Eliana laughed groggily. Neela's mind instantly snapped and narrowed until she released Eliana's breast and slipped her arm out from under the girl's neck in perfect synchronization. "You didn't have to stop…"

"I think we should be getting up anyway!" Neela exclaimed. "Full day ahead of us and what not!" Neela climbed over Eliana off of the bed and Eliana stretched.

"What's the rush, we're on vacation," Eliana reminded her. Neela nodded and ran her hand through her hair.

"I know, just going to take a shower," Neela told her rushing out of the room with her clothes. She sprinted for the bathroom, locking the door behind her and breathing heavily.  _Calm down Neela. Eliana's just as clueless as ever, no need to be so worked up. Eliana's right. Your both girls with boobs… even if Elli's are amazing… Shit…_  She barred the door, making sure that Eliana didn't try anything crazy like joining her in the shower and stripped, stepping in and letting the water wash away her anxiety. She scrubbed her body, recalling bits of the nightmare that she had experienced but she knew better when she was awake. It was all just stress.

She knew that her friends really didn't think that of her, and she knew that in time she'd be strong enough to tackle the obstacles set before her. But one fear lingered and she couldn't completely shake it. What if the White Fang attacked before she was ready? What if they hurt the people close to her and she was powerless to do anything about it? Could she live with herself if Athena or any of her lackeys killed even one person she loved? Neela shrugged off the thought as she tended to her hair.

 _You love me?_  Why hadn't she replied to Eliana in her dream? Was it the only hope that she was clinging to amidst all of the pressure that was crushing her slowly?  _I do love you, Elli. I know I've shown you it all along. Have you noticed? Will you stay with me forever?_  Neela turned off the shower, standing in the tub for a few more minutes to allow the remaining water to drip off of her before stepping out and retrieving a towel from the linen closet, where they'd always been kept. She dried herself, slipping into her jeans and hoodie and opening the door to find Eliana waiting on the other side.

"I'm done," Neela said with a smile.

"Did you save me any warm water?" Eliana asked. Neela laughed.

"You wish," Neela told her. She moved back to the bedroom and retrieved her things, heading downstairs and sitting in the living room with Violet who offered her a cup of tea. She accepted and sipped gingerly from it as Violet glanced up the stairs. She leaned in towards Neela from her chair.

"Have you told her yet?" Violet pried. Neela laughed.

"You thought that I was going to tell her last night?" Neela asked. Violet nodded rigorously.

"Of course. Isn't this the first night the two of you have spent alone since you've left for Beacon? If nothing else is true of this trip, the two of you will have more privacy than you've had in months," Violet explained. Neela nodded taking another sip.

"I guess I'll keep that in mind," Neela told her. Eliana flew down the steps and stopped at the door, throwing it open and peering out for a few seconds before slamming it shut.

"Where's the packing snow? I need to make a snowman this week or I might die!" Eliana claimed. She stumbled to the couch and fell haphazardly into Neela's lap. "It's a rare disease and there is no cure! If I am unable to build a man of snow soon, I might succumb to a disease worse than any this world has ever seen before! If I do Neela, promise that you'll make it through the Vytal Festival without me! Everything that you do, do in remembrance of me!"

"Sure," Neela replied. Eliana moaned.

"Mother. I'm sorry to leave you so soon. Don't let Neela forget me, and don't turn my room into a workout area too soon!" Eliana gasped.

"Actually I was thinking of using it as a reading room," Violet told them. Eliana sat up instantly, pulling her right eyelid down and sticking out her tongue.

"Thanks, a lot, mom," Eliana replied. Her mother smiled, mirroring Eliana's face and they both laughed.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much Elli, I'm sure it'll snow at least once this week," Neela reassured her.

"I hope so…" Eliana exclaimed flopping into her lap again. "This disease is very deadly."

* * *

"Blakey, are you going to be okay?" Yang asked as she watched her wife and three clones run in circles around the house to get in clean in time for Eliana and Neela's arrival. "I can help out if you want me to."

"It's fine, it'll be easier if I do the cleaning on my own," Blake told her. One of her clones glanced around the room before looking at Yang.

"Where's Shadow?" It asked. Yang glanced around the room and shrugged sheepishly, leaving in a hurry and finding Shadow sitting quietly on the couch, coloring in a Grimm from one of her coloring books. She glanced up at Yang and smiled as she showed her mom the rainbow-colored Nevermore. Yang rubbed the top of her head and Shadow laughed.

"That's not what they look like," Yang told her. Shadow shrugged and continued coloring.

"Maybe if they did look like that, people wouldn't be so scared of them," Shadow offered. Yang smirked thoughtfully and patted the girl on the head again.

"Maybe you're right," Yang agreed. She glanced through the girl's pile of pictures and spotted one that appeared to be of the family, but with an extra member that had longer and unruly black hair. "Blake!"

"I'm busy at the moment," Blake told her. Yang took the picture and smiled at Shadow.

"Can I borrow this hun?" Yang asked. Shadow nodded and Yang walked into the kitchen with it. "Blake. Tell me what you see wrong with this picture?"

"Yang…" Blake rebutted but was cut off.

"Now do you understand why I didn't want her getting cozy with Raven?!" Yang asked as she slammed the paper onto the counter. "She drew her as part of the family, Oum forbid she start looking up to the woman! She's an awful person who has killed more than I dare to imagine in cold blood, but for some reason, you think it's okay to welcome her into our home and tell Shadow 'This is Grandma Raven. She's hurt. She's the victim. She needs love and affection, and all sorts of other sappy bullshit!'"

"Swear jar mommy!" Shadow called out. Yang lowered her voice.

"I don't want us to bring up Raven ever again. I don't want to let Raven come into our house ever again. Hell, I'd be happier if Raven never entered the same kingdom as us, ever again," Yang explained. Blake's clones disappeared leaving only the original and the pulled Yang aside out the back door.

"If I would have let her die, would that have made us any better than her?" Blake asked. Yang turned away and entered the house.

"It would have made things easier," Yang muttered. There was a knock on the front door but before Yang could respond Eliana threw the door open.

"You knock at your own house? We're here!" Eliana announced.

"Hi girls!" Blake called re-entering the kitchen and making her way to the living room. Shadow and Yang raced to the door and hugged Neela, she struggled to break free but it was no use.

"Sissy!" Shadow exclaimed. Neela rubbed the top of her head and let Yang kiss her forehead as she let them go and hugged Blake. Yang and Shadow tackled Eliana.

"How are you holding up?" Neela asked Blake. Blake nodded.

"I'm doing alright I guess. I'll be better once Atlas finally pinpoints Athena and takes her down," Blake told her.

"Yeah," Neela replied.

"So, what's on the agenda?" Eliana asked as she managed to struggle to her feet and move to Blake. She gave her a hug and Shadow ran over, tugging on Eliana's jacket.

"Snow fort!" Shadow declared. Eliana laughed and picked her up, setting Shadow on her shoulders.

"Problem with that little kitten is the fact that the snow is a little dusty out there," Eliana told Shadow. Yang looked out the window and smiled, nudging Neela.

"Maybe not for long," Yang said. Eliana glanced out the window and ran Shadow over as they watched the snow fall. Shadow nearly leapt off of Eliana's shoulders and threw on her winter clothing, sprinting out into the yard. "Shadow, wait up!"

"Finally wearing a coat for once?" Blake asked cocking her head sideways. Eliana shook her head and laughed.

"Yeah, my mom made me put one on. I'll go out with Shadow, I'm sure that you want to visit," Eliana told Neela as she closed the door behind her, steps behind Shadow. They stood there in silence for a long moment looking at each other.

"How have things been since you were attacked in Vale?" Blake asked quietly.

"It's shaken me up a bit, but it's nothing that I can't handle. After the break I'll get back to school and be good as new," Neela told them.

"And taken, right?" Yang asked. Neela gave a smile that faded instantly. "You haven't told her yet? I guess that's not a big deal, Blake and I didn't realize it until after our time at Beacon. You can't imagine how awkward it was, three other people in the room and you had to wait until they went to sleep so that you could…"

"Yang!" Blake cut her off. Yang cheesed a smile and turned back to Neela.

"You certainly seem less distracted by her recently," Yang admitted.

"I've been focusing hard on the Fang and getting better. It's nice to have Eliana around, but without time to actively pursue her, I've had to push that to the back of my mind," Neela told them. Yang raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really?" Yang asked. Neela nodded, slightly confused. "Want to talk about Ivory?" Neela's face contorted and she looked away. She crossed her arms and Blake stifled back laughter as she began making lunch.

"What about her?" Neela asked.

"She's a cute bird Faunus, leads a second-year team, is into girls…" Yang droned on. "You're not worried?"

"Why should I be?!" Neela replied. She looked at Yang who pursed her lips, waiting for the rest of her thought. "I mean…" Neela stared out at Eliana and Shadow playing in the snow. "I am? Why wouldn't I be? But as long as Elli is happy, that's what matters." Neela stared longingly as Yang left the room.

"Just as long as you're not lying to yourself and you realize that if you don't make a move first someone else might, then you're fine. I don't want you to have your heart broken," Yang told her. Neela nodded, never once taking her eyes off of Eliana.

"I know," Neela mouthed.

"Neela, you were over at Violet's for two days?" Blake called out. Neela looked back.

"Yeah. She is doing well!" Neela responded. The door was thrown open and Shadow and Eliana tumbled in, landing in a giggling pile at Neela's feet. Neela smiled at them.

"That's good. I think that the ball is today in Atlas. Do you mind turning it on?" Blake called out. "I wanted to watch some of it once I finish getting lunch ready."

"Sure!" Neela answered. She sat on the couch, Eliana leaping over the back of it and landing next to her, listening as Shadow grunted behind them.

"Help!" Shadow called out. Eliana reached back and pulled her over, setting the girl in her lap and handing her the coloring materials. Neela turned on the television, the volume had been turned down for some reason and on the screen were images of the Atlas Ball, but something was off. Neela scanned the screen, watching as people ran in terror while a man with a sniper rifle shouted out, but the mute setting on the device only gave his shouts as silence. Neela glanced at Eliana and leapt to her feet, running out the door.

"Where was Neela going so fast?" Blake asked glancing away from the sink.

"I left my guns out in the snow accidentally, I think she went to retrieve them," Eliana told her. Blake nodded.

"Did you guys find the channel?" Blake asked.

"Uhh, still looking!" Eliana replied.

"Do you know what number it is?" Blake questioned once again, drying her hands and preparing to assist the girls.

"It's fine Blake, I think I got it!" Eliana shouted sliding Shadow off of her lap and running to the kitchen doorway, blocking her exit. "Titus and Ilia look adorable, but I think we should work on the food. Want my help?" Blake smiled and removed Eliana's arm, stepping into the living room.

"In a moment, I want to see them all dressed up," Blake told her. Yang shot a funny look at Eliana who waved frantically for help with her arms. As Blake crossed the threshold the house's power went out and they were left in dull lighting as Blake glanced back at Yang and Eliana who had stopped flailing. "That's strange, what happened to the power?" Neela re-entered the house, huffing her lungs out as she closed the door behind her.

"Sorry Neela, I didn't realize I had my guns on me all along," Eliana said with a wink that was less than subtle. Neela gave her a thumb up and moved to the kitchen.

"What happened to the power?" Neela asked.

"I'm not sure," Blake replied. Neela grabbed Yang by the shoulder.

"Let's go check the fuse box," Neela offered, dragging Yang out the back door. As they rounded the corner, Neela released her mother and shot a text to Titus.

"What's going on Neela?" Yang asked.

"When we turned on the news coverage of the ball, there was a White Fang attack that was happening," Neela explained. "Mom doesn't need any more stress." Yang nodded.

"I agree," Yang said as they moved to the fuse box.

"I overloaded the main breaker. All we have to do is switch it back on, but let's take a few minutes and hopefully she'll become preoccupied and the ball will slip her mind," Neela suggested. Yang wrapped her arm around her daughter and shook her, kissing her on the head.

"That's why you're the leader!" Yang hollered.

* * *

"I can't believe that it's already the end of the week, I feel like it just began," Eliana groaned. "Neela, I don't want to go back to school yet." Neela sighed as she helped Shadow roll the ball for the head of a snowman and placed in on the body.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, but at least we aren't Ilia and Titus. They're already back at school working on projects that are due Monday," Neela told Eliana.

"Yikes," Eliana replied.

"We need to make another one next to this one sissy!" Shadow pled. Neela laughed and playfully nudged Shadow further out in the yard.

"Okay, you start," Neela told her. Shadow began rolling the ball and Eliana came over to assist them. "Plus when we get back tonight, that'll give us the weekend to begin training for Vytal." Eliana's eyes lit up.

"For real?!" Neela nodded. "Aww yeah! We'll be so ready for it, they won't know what hit them. Neeliana is going to kick some major ass!" Shadow glared at Eliana wide-eyed.

"Swear jar!" Shadow exclaimed. Neela smirked at Eliana who grumbled and headed into the house. A blackbird raced out of the woods, landing on Neela's shoulder and staring at her. It cocked its head, the two of them examining each other before it glided to Shadow and landed on her head. "A bird sissy!"

"Strange, normally they all go south for the winter," Neela told Shadow. The bird bedded down and sang, bringing much joy to Shadow. Neela's mind recalled Raven's battle with Yang and she examined the bird once more.

"I'm going to go show mommy!" Shadow declared.

"I don't think mommy will want that bird in the house," she replied, directing the comment at Raven. "How about the bird helps you find some sticks for the snowmen and we keep this a secret?" The bird leapt up and took off, landing on the edge of the woods and hopping up and down, looking back at Shadow chirping. Eliana raced back out to join Neela as Shadow took off after the raven, Eliana watching Shadow for a moment.

"That bird must be completely lost. Also, what kind of monsters are you people? I had to give up a whole lien for swearing? Why not like a nickel, or a quarter?" Eliana asked.

"That's my grandmother," Neela told Eliana pointing out at Shadow with the bird.

"How do you know it isn't Qrow?" Eliana asked.

"Qrow doesn't just show up as a bird, and she seemed very reluctant towards me telling mom that she's here," Neela replied.

"What do you think she wants?" Eliana inquired. Neela shrugged as Shadow came running back with Raven fluttering above her. She laughed as she handed the sticks to Neela.

"Elli and I will finish the other snowman and you put the arms on," Shadow instructed. Neela nodded and did as she was told as Shadow took a step back watching Neela. She shook her head and ran over. "No! You're doing it wrong, they need to hold hands!" Shadow wrenched the sticks out and fixed them, satisfied with her handiwork as the bird landed on Neela's shoulder again.

"Cute!" Eliana exclaimed. "Is it your mommies?" Shadow shook her head.

"It's you and sissy!" Shadow exclaimed. Raven cackled in laughter and Neela shooed her off, stepping away from them and into the woods. "Sissy?"

"Great work Shadow. I'm going to make sure this bird gets home, you and Elli should put some finishing touches on the snow people," Neela called back. Shadow nodded at Eliana in agreement as Neela disappeared from sight and the bird landed behind her, transforming into her human form. "Raven, right?"

"Will you ask Yang to come hear me out?" Raven asked.

"No, I won't. Not today. It's the end of Winter Festival, imagine that you were having a good day and out of the blue you have an unwelcome and unexpected visitor who had treated you like garbage and didn't acknowledge your existence the first half of your life," Neela told her. Raven gently palmed her sword and Neela reached back for her bow. "I might not be able to take you, but I'm sure I can reach the house before you can cut me down." Raven released the sword and thought over Neela's words. It was the exact way that her father had treated her when she'd left the clan. "I recommend you go back to Grandpa Tai's for now."

"You fought Ebony the other day," Raven said slowly as she finally recognized the girl. Qrow had spoken highly of the girl and the fact that she held her own against Raven's protégé spoke volumes. Raven had truly been impressed as she held Neela in her arms. It only now just dawned on her again. "You are as incredible as Qrow made you out to be."

"How did you know that I fought Ebony?" Neela asked.

"It doesn't matter," Raven dismissed her. "What matters is that Yang let me join your family so that I may protect them…" Raven mused over her words. "Protect our family."

"We can protect ourselves, I feel like you're the one that's unsure here," Neela told Raven. "If you really do feel guilty about abandoning mom as a baby, you need to make it up to her." Raven turned away.  _That's the same thing that Tai told me._  "You don't seem like the kind to feel guilt."

"That's not true," Raven told her.

"No?" Neela asked. "I've heard stories from Uncle Qrow. You felt no guilt leaving Yang. Killing your father. Letting your clan die…"

"All necessities!" Raven exclaimed. Neela shook her head as she loosened her grip on the weapon on her back.

"I don't know who betrayed you during your childhood or failed to love you properly, but there isn't enough lien in all of Remnant that could ever make me turn my back on those closest to me. I'd sooner let Eliana get me killed than to let her die or kill her myself. Maybe your father deserved it, I can't claim to know that, but the clan was your family, weren't they? And mom, mom had only just been born when you up and disappeared," Neela told Raven. "You have to understand that her pain is justified. I think that despite killing your father you were still desperate for his approval, and he didn't approve of you having a child one bit, did he?"

Raven stared hard at Neela and wondered just how old this girl truly was. Was she older than they had thought her to be, or had her pain just made her wise beyond her years?

"Nothing gets past you Neela," Raven told her.

"I was born into hatred, but despite the fact, my parents were only doing what they thought was best. Did I hate my birth parents after I discovered what the Fang really was? No. They didn't know better, they were only loving me and protecting me in the way they thought would be the safest. Uncle Qrow says that Oriole didn't approve of Yang and so you mirrored what you'd learned from your father's treatment of Qrow. Mom doesn't see that. She only sees that you left her and that she refuses to end up like you. If anything I should thank you for making my mother who she is today," Neela explained.

Raven thought it over. It was how she was raised, it was the only way that she'd ever known to survive. Do as the clan leader says. Do everything for the strength of the clan.  _Your brother is a failure, we no longer need him. That daughter of yours will only put us in danger and prevent you from becoming my successor._  But the clan was dead now. She wasn't bound by their rules. And Yang was anything but weak. Raven nodded to Neela.

"Thank you Neela," Raven said. "I will return to Tai's for now." Raven took on her aviary form and flew away, Neela watching her disappear through the trees.

"Thank you." Neela returned silently. She headed back to the house and found Eliana and Shadow inside, Shadow telling Blake about the bird.

"It was black with red eyes mommy! It was my friend!" Shadow exclaimed. Blake glanced at Neela who smiled and knelt beside Shadow. "Sissy, did the bird go home?" Neela nodded.

"Yes, she did, Shadow. Just like us, she has a place where she belongs," Neela told her. "Her nest was kind of messy though. I don't know if she knows just where she belongs yet."

"She can stay with us," Shadow shouted. Neela rubbed her head and smirked.

"We'll see," Neela replied. Blake watched Neela as she stood and they left the room with Eliana, Shadow running back outside to work on the snowmen, carrots in hand. "Guess who?"

"Didn't really need to guess with the glances that Eliana kept throwing at me," Blake told Neela. "What did she want?"

"To talk to Yang," Neela answered.

"What did you tell her?" Blake asked.

"Come back some other time. I told her mom was enjoying the holiday and that we didn't need any unnecessary drama heaped onto the stress that we're already under," Neela explained. Blake nodded.

"Good," Blake responded. "I'm hoping that I can have a few words with both Yang and Raven before the next time they end of in the same vicinity as one another." Blake looked them both over and smiled, hugging Neela. "You girls have done great so far. I can't wait to see how you two do the rest of the year."

"It's not just us Mrs. Bellabooty-" Eliana froze as she glanced at the two of them. "Dammit, I did it again." Blake facepalmed and shook her head. "Everyone is doing an amazing job this year. The teachers. Team CBLT. Titus and Ilia. We all keep pushing each other to strive for greatness that we would have never thought we'd achieve. We all want to be the best and with that, we challenge ourselves to stay on top. I'd say Cobalt and his crew have made sure we stay on our toes. Cobalt's already talking about Semblance Training."

"Word of advice," Yang said entering the room at the end of the conversation. "That can really strain your body. I don't want anyone in NITE trying that this year, it could really hurt one of you. Cobalt's kind of headstrong for thinking he's ready for that, but you watch. His performance will start to slip and Pyrrha will yell at him for it along with the rest of us." Neela's eyes glossed over as she thought to her fight with Ebony and overdoing it then. "I mean it, Neela Xiao Long. You'll see the full power of my semblance if you don't listen."

"Got it, mom," Neela replied. Eliana looked at her scroll and elbowed Neela in the ribs.

"We have to get going if we're going to make the last airship out today," Eliana told her. Neela nodded, giving hugs to both of her mothers.

"Mom relax," Neela told Blake. "And strong arm her if you have to." Yang smiled wildly at Neela.

"An arm pun?!" Yang exclaimed. Neela flushed and dragged Eliana out of the house. "Wait! I'm beaming! I'm so proud! I love you little bird!" Neela crashed through the door and Eliana waved back at the Xiao Longs as she struggled for a footing.

"Sissy!" Shadow yelled running out to meet them and hugging Neela as tightly as she could. "I'll miss you!"

"I'll miss you too Shadow," Neela assured her. Eliana mussed Shadow's hair.

"See you around little kitten," Eliana told her.

"Keep sissy safe Elli!" Shadow exclaimed. Eliana smiled over at Neela.

"I will." They made the airship and rode it back to Beacon with small talk, each of them reflecting on their time on vacation. They stepped off of the ship and Eliana took a deep breath in, releasing it slowly. "Beacon sweet Beacon." Eliana bounced on her feet and shoved Neela who was staring into space. "Race me to the dorms?"

"You're on!" Neela replied. Before they could take off a voice stopped them both dead in their tracks.

"Neela Xiao Long!" Tawney called out from the courtyard. "I'm fresh off of Winter Break and I'm ready to kick your ass! I am the strongest member of CBLT after all!"

"Debatable!" Cobalt yelled out. Tawney glared back at him.

"Shut up," she seethed. Neela glanced at Eliana who had her arms out.

"Give me your bags and go kick her ass again," Eliana told Neela. Neela smirked at Eliana before handing over the bags and staring down at Tawney who had drawn a crowd. "What?"

"Swear jar." Neela took off for Tawney, whipping out her bow and firing as she slid through the snow to avoid a shotgun blast from Tawney. Tawney was already moving as the arrow arrived, exploding behind her and giving her extra incentive to keep moving. Neela spun quickly, firing where Tawney would be as she rolled under another two would be hits and struck Tawney in the chest. Tawney removed the arrow, charging in and deflecting two more shots, reaching Neela more quickly than the Faunus expected, and forcing Neela to block with her sword. Neela let Tawney's force roll her back as she leapt to her feet and was met with a flurry of swings.

Neela deflected Tawney's blows, careful not to let the girl hit her and charge her semblance. Neela forced Tawney off balance, reaching into her satchel and tossing a small wooden trinket into the air that looked like an Ursa. Tawney's eyes followed it in confusion and Neela lunged in, dealing a blow to Tawney's aura before she could remove herself from the situation. The distance was an error in judgment and Neela flipped out her bow, firing two arrows at once that landed on each side of Tawney. A lightning charge formed between the two, blasting Tawney back and landing her on her ass, she joined her tonfas and fired as Neela prepared to load another arrow, giving her enough time to find her feet.

Neela dodged the Dust round from Tawney but it exploded as it passed her, freezing her right wrist and hand and preventing her from firing her bow. Tawney rushed in once more, Neela transforming the weapon to its sword form and letting Tawney land a blow, shattering the ice. Neela took another hit before she readjusted, blocking the third with her sword once more. Neela managed with one hand, using her free hand to remove another item from her pouch but Tawney ignored it this time, ready to push the attack. Neela would be on the ropes in a matter of seconds. Neela held it out, crushing it in her hand and the flashbang tip erupted, sending Tawney reeling in shock. Neela kicked her in the chest and Tawney left her feet, landing on her back as Neela stood over her with an arrow drawn.

The students around them cheered as Tawney rolled to her knees and slowly stood. She glanced at Neela who smiled at her and helped her up.

"You hit me," Neela said. Tawney smirked.

"Next time I'll hit you more," Tawney replied. Eliana joined them as they headed for the dorms.

"Alright kids, winter break is over! Let's get serious!" Eliana declared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Winter Break is over, Team NITE gets back to the grind next week in Chapter 51 - Lessons in Many Forms!
> 
> Winter Break on Patch by OoKaminoki  
> 
> 
> A big thank you to Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	55. Lessons in Many Forms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neela trains, Blake scolds Raven, and Ilia learns more about Camellia, what more could you want?

Neela's arrow planted in the middle of the target as May Zedong peered at it down her scope and shook her head.

"It's one thing to be able to shoot a target that far with a sniper rifle, but with a bow like that is another thing entirely," May said impressed. She activated the remote in her hand and the target moved quickly back and forth across the field, May smirking as she stood beside Neela and shared her line of sight. "Two in the bullseye. Rapid succession." Neela smirked and gave an imperceptible nod as she did what was asked, the second arrow was fired well in advance but met the first arrow after it had planted and moved in front of its companion. "Easy when you're nerves aren't completely tearing you apart. The problem is that we need to simulate that stress… That fear."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Neela asked. May smirked.

"Two more," May told her. Neela let the first arrow fly but as she drew back the second, May hit her in the back with the butt of her rifle. "Fire! They're getting away!" Neela released the arrow as May butted her again, effectively causing her to miss.

"I don't know if I'd call that stress," Neela pointed out.

"Why not? You think that you're just going to have perfect conditions every time and you won't ever be attacked while you're trying to fire?" May asked. She took a step back. "Two more and this time try and be more aware of your surroundings. I know how your semblance works, you could become a damn good huntress."

Neela drew the arrow and activated her semblance, doing her best to divide her attention, or was she? Firing was second nature, she hardly had to think about the shot. The only thing she needed to focus on was May. She took a quick step forward, avoiding being hit by May who swung her rifle at Neela and released the first arrow, quickly bringing back the second. She took a step back, a move that took May off guard and elbowed her in the chest before letting the second fly. Both hit their mark and Neela flipped the bow into its sword form, clashing her blade against the rifle. May laughed.

"How was that?" Neela asked.

"You leave little room for doubt over your abilities," May told her. "You'll be a fine huntress."

"Anything else you want to cover today?" Neela asked.

"I think we went over on our session anyways, let's head back to the campus," May told her throwing her a water bottle. They made their way up from the target range which was a short walk into the Emerald Forest from the edge of the cliff, and slowly trekked back to the training board that listed which student would have a one on one with which instructor for that given day. "So I was reading through your application for Beacon the other day and you mentioned that you like to treat fighting Grimm as hunting for animals."

"Of course. It makes things go a bit more fluidly when I do so, it puts me more in control of the situation instead of attacking it outright or letting it surprise me," Neela explained.

"Why not fight others with the same mentality?" May asked. "You're a hunter before anything else, I can see it in your eyes and mannerisms. Your skill is a step above your peers, but the deciding factor in being the best could be your natural eye for hunting. It's not practical for the entirety of the battle, but I can guarantee you'll win more often than not if you stalk, track, and bait your prey into doing exactly what you want. Your teammates are merely tools."

"I used to stalk Yang once a week but she always got the best of me," Neela told her.

"Why do you think that is? Nerves? Excitement?" May pried.

"Variables," Neela stated.

"So eliminate them," May said. "Study your enemy before you engage and force them to react to you accordingly. You've done it before, Coco told me about how you forced her into a stalemate during the teacher pairing session in the woods."

"You guys have nothing better to talk about?" Neela asked as they reached the board.

"Neela, you truly are more capable than you think. Don't let all of this White Fang talk throw you off your game, wouldn't want the Maniac taking you down," May said with a laugh. "I'm going to check with the office quick to see if I had any mail come in today, can you wait here for a moment and tell my next student that I'll be back?" Neela nodded.

"Not a problem," Neela agreed with a smile. Neela watched May head for the administrative building and thought over what she said. May was right, the variables that Yang had used to throw off Neela were things that could have been accounted for if she'd gone all out trying to hunt her mother down during her weekly training. She activated her semblance and drew back her bow, aiming out toward the woods where she wouldn't strike anyone and watching her surroundings. A few students walked by on a sidewalk leading from the dorms at least fifty yards away. Jaune was filing through papers as he cut across one of the greens towards one of the training arenas. Neela released her arrow and it flew into the woods, striking a sign that read "Don't feed the animals" that was carelessly attached to a tree by a string.

"Wow," someone stated as they approached Neela and she dropped her semblance. Neela glanced back, recognizing the girl immediately from her white hair and large white wings. Ivory held a larger bow with limbs that appeared to be razor sharp wings. The girl was wearing a beacon uniform which Neela found slightly strange because no one did so unless they had an assembly, but the winged Faunus still found a way to accentuate her figure, her button up tight in the chest, appearing ready to burst. Neela stared for a moment before meeting eyes with the girl. "Damn. You're a hot mess just like the rest of your team."

"You must be Ivory, Eliana mentioned you," Neela told Ivory. Ivory laughed as she shook her hand.

"And I know I'm in the presence of greatness," Ivory told her. "It's a pleasure to meet the amazing Neela Xiao Long." Neela broke off the handshake and they stood in silence for a moment, staring off in different directions. "I hear that NITE is the top Year One team right now."

"It's true. Team CBLT has really kept us on our toes, but we continue to impress so we keep our ranking," Neela told her. Ivory nodded.

"I've watched you a few times now, you guys are just amazing!" Ivory beamed. Neela hated being rude to the girl, but the fact that she was a potential threat to steal Eliana from her didn't bode well. Neela sighed and rubbed her neck.

"So, Eliana seems to be pretty taken with you," Neela suggested. Ivory raised an eyebrow and held Neela's gaze before bursting into laughter.

"You're kidding right?! Neela this, Neela that. That girl is all about you, all the time. Plus I have my eyes on someone a little rougher around the edges," Ivory told her. She leaned in. "When Vin brought her home after she hit her head she looked so peaceful and vulnerable. She's showered over at the beach house once or twice, she has the cutest pinstripe tattoo that reads 'Huntress' in real gothic looking letters. Just thinking about it has got me all worked up." Neela looked at Ivory who had a devious smirk.  _Once again Neela you were all worked up for no reason._

"Ilia's cute but…" Ivory cut her off.

"You stay on Eliana, I'd hate to have to fight you," Ivory said, acting as though she was reaching for an arrow. Neela laughed.

"Same goes for Eliana," Neela told her. Ivory nodded as they shook hands.

"Deal." Ivory agreed. May returned and greeted Ivory, heading out to the woods. "We should train together sometime! Bring Ilia with!"

"Sure!" Neela called back as she headed back to the dorms to study. She reached the room and found Titus studying, Eliana napping, and Ilia nowhere to be found. Neela sat on her bed, browsing through her scroll and looking up news stories that would give her any information on the Stardust Gang.

"How was training?" Titus asked. Neela glanced up and smiled.

"It went well," Neela told him. "May gave me a new perspective." Neela stopped for a moment. No, it wasn't new, it was just presented differently. She would learn everything that she possibly could about Orion and Sirius, and when the time was right, she'd bring them in for Coco. "Or rather reminded me that I could use something I'd been doing all along in a different way."

"What was that?" Eliana asked appearing from the bottom bunk. Neela chuckled.

"I thought you were asleep," Neela said.

"Psh, nonsense," Eliana replied wiping the sleep from her eyes. "So what did she say?"

"She said to treat missions against other huntsmen and huntresses the same way I would if we were going to clear an area of a pack of Grimm," Neela explained. "I should set the situation up like a hunt and force the enemy into acting the way I want them to. If I limit their choices of counterattack and escape, I can defeat them more easily."

"Makes sense," Titus added.

"Is that what you're doing here?" Eliana asked climbing on to the top bunk with Neela and peering at her scroll over her shoulder. Neela nodded.

"I'm going to investigate the Stardust Gang and see if we can set a trap for them at their next site of attack or exchange," Neela said. Eliana leapt down off of the bed.

"Let's go to the library and devise a 'Think Tank'!" Eliana announced. Titus stood as he closed his textbook and cleared his throat.

"I'm in," he said. "We weren't prepared last time and you almost bit off more than you can chew. This is probably against the rules somewhere, but sometimes they need to be broken, right?" Eliana jumped up and down.

"Yeah!" Eliana exclaimed. Neela gave him a questioning look and he gave a subtle shrug as she climbed down. "To the library!"

* * *

"Alright, that's the bell! For tonight's homework, I want all of you to read chapter seven and write a comprehensive report either defending or speaking out against the Remnant Peace Council. I want you to do your best to convince me why you believe we should or shouldn't have a council that runs the governments and oversees the safety of all. I think you can all guess which stance I'm leaning towards, but I'll leave it up to all of you to decide for yourselves how you feel about it," Blake announced as the students stood to leave the classroom. "Now get out of here before I make the report even longer." Blake watched as they filed out, a few of the students talking to each other and shoving each other out the door as Blake turned back to her desk.

She needed to meet up with Glynda, she had no classes for the rest of the day and wanted to plan for tomorrow's lecture, on top of grading the papers had been turned in at the beginning of the morning. Blake gathered them up, filing through them to see whether or not every student made sure to turn the assignment over and answer the final question. She double checked, stacking the papers neatly before grabbing her planner and moving up the stairs, stopped by the sound of someone still in the lecture hall, clearing their throat to draw Blake's attention. Blake turned to face them as they stood, she found herself without words for a moment.

"Please hear me out," Raven said. Blake stared her down for a long moment, sighing as she set down her items and leaned against the ledge beside her.

"Raven, I don't…" Blake began. Raven removed her mask, her eyes cold, but beyond the ice there was pain.

"Please." Raven pled. Blake was unable to move. Was she faking it? She'd seen that hurt before in Yang and Neela's eyes, Yang with the trauma that she'd left her to deal with when she lost her arm, and Neela as the small building in the woods was moments from crushing her and she was yet coping with the loss of her parents. Raven placed her mask on the bench beside her and slowly made her way to Blake. "Your daughter and Tai both got me thinking. I want Yang to trust me."

"So that we'll protect you?" Blake asked. Raven gritted her teeth and turned away.

"Is it wrong that I seek safety? We share a common enemy, I only want to help eradicate the White Fang," Raven told her. "I can only do that with your help, and Yang's. Can't you talk some sense into her?" Blake folded her arms.

"It's not as easy as that Raven. This isn't your clan, you can't just put on a show of power and expect that Yang will want to help you. You have to show her that you care," Blake informed her.

"Is this not enough?" Raven asked. "What more does she need?! I want to help her now, that should be more than adequate!" Blake shook her head and gathered her things once more, moving up the rest of the stairs to leave. "Blake!"

"It's not enough! You're still only here to save you skin Raven. Yang wants to know that you care and sharing a common enemy is never going to be enough. She wants you to be there. She wants you to learn about her likes and dislikes. She wants you to at least act like you care about our children, and her. You were never there to hold her when she had nightmares, you weren't there after she defeated Salem. I'm not going to yell at you again, Yang did enough of that for a lifetime. But if you want Yang to even tolerate you, you need to feign interest," Blake told her.

"If wanting to help her is not enough, I don't know that she'll accept me," Raven said following after her, grabbing up her mask.

"Are you saying that you aren't willing to do more?" Blake asked. "Because if you are, you're lying."

"What do you mean?" Raven asked.

"I know what you did. Shadow told me that she was playing with a bird that sounded a lot like you. I wasn't entirely sure that it was you as I watched you help her build the snowman, or when you laughed at Neela when Shadow said that the snowman was her sister, but Neela confirmed it. I saw you stroking the top of Shadow's head when she laid beside you in bed at our apartment. Are you afraid of looking weak?" Blake asked. Raven didn't know how to answer. Blake wasn't completely wrong, the clan had learned that being emotional and loving meant that you were frail and weak. The clan didn't have time for such nuisances.

"I offer my services, that is all," Raven stated. They stared each other down for a long moment before Blake opened the door.

"I told you what you needed to do. Goodbye Raven." With that, Blake headed for Glynda's office. She closed the door behind her and took a seat beside Glyda, retrieving a notebook from one of the desk drawers and dating it at the top. Glynda looked at her for a moment before turning back to her computer without a word. "What?"

"I'm sure it's nothing. How are things around the campus so far today?" Glynda asked. Blake brushed her hair out of her face and jotted something down in her notes.

"Not too much to speak of. Camellia was apprehended by the Atlas military over the winter break, but I'm sure that you're of aware that. There haven't been any security breaches, but with the exception of the Fang, there's no reason to believe that there would be. Coco hadn't yet finished her progress report for the crime rate numbers over the last week when I talked to her this morning, but she did give me this instead…" Blake unfolded a napkin and set it on the desk, written on it in marker was "Need more coffee in the lounge" with a heart that Blake assumed was drawn by Velvet. "Lastly I am personally arranging the assignments for huntsmen shadowing, but it's been a touch difficult with all of the new Fang activity, not to mention the freak Grimm occurrences in Forever Fall, some of these kids aren't far along enough to hold their own against Beringels and the like."

"Interesting," Glynda said browsing her computer and more or less tuning Blake out. "Has Oobleck looked into these Grimm occurrences yet?"

"Should he?" Blake asked. "It's possible that they might just be migrating or adapting. No one knows how they get here in the first place, for all we know it might be possible for a Grimm of any kind to appear anywhere. Unless it's a new Grimm, I say we let him be, that's the only real reason we'd have cause for alarm. New Grimms can't be created unless the bridge to Salem's Realm is repaired, right?" Glyda stared hard at the screen and Blake stood so that she could view the screen over her shoulder.

"It would appear that your daughter and her friends are looking into robberies and other such significant events that have to do with the Stardust Gang," Glynda told her. "I wonder what they're planning to do?" Blake stood and made her way towards the door. "Where are you going?"

"To stop them," Blake told her. Glynda held the door shut with her semblance and Blake glanced back at her. "Glynda…"

"Let them be Blake," Glynda told her.

"Glynda-" Blake protested.

"I recall a certain cat Faunus acting the same way when she was afraid that the White Fang and Torchwick were up to something many years ago," Glynda told her. "Are you going to tell her to stop? She won't. I'm pretty sure that's the same approach that your teammates took on you at first and it didn't get them anywhere. Let her do this Blake, she feels the same as you did. She feels like the world around her is becoming more hostile as she just sits around."

"They almost killed her last time!" Blake shouted.

"And if Penny hadn't shown up to save you and Sun, how would the outcome have been different?" Glynda asked. "She's learning, and already she's learned what Stardust can and can't do. She'll be better prepared and I think she just might surprise us all." Glynda stood, leading Blake back to her seat. "I know that it's hard and that you're scared for her, but this will help her confidence more than you can know." Blake nodded and swallowed hard.

"Yeah, okay," Blake agreed begrudgingly.

"I'll send Coco to keep an eye on them whenever they do make a move," Glynda reassured her. Blake looked through her bag for her water bottle.

"Thanks."

* * *

**One Week Earlier**

"She wants to talk to you," Winter said as they opened the door to the visiting room and Ilia stepped inside. The walls were bare, white concrete which gave the place an even more eery feel as she approached the glass and sat, picking the phone up off of the hook and waiting for Camellia to pick up on the other side. This was it and Ilia knew it, staring into the woman's eyes. Titus had warned Ilia of her power, she would look Ilia in the eyes and ride her body out of the prison and back to freedom. Ilia wanted answers though. Why had the woman helped them after all of the hell that Titus claimed she'd put him through? She refused to talk to him, wanting to talk to Ilia instead.

"Ilia right?" Camellia asked.

"Right," Ilia answered with a nod. Camellia laughed and brushed her hair out of her face.

"Back when I was still working at Beacon it said in your record that you can use people's bodies by possessing them. I guess you and I are kind of alike in that sense. We always take on a new identity to try and preserve ourselves, but we're still just slaves to those around us," Camellia claimed. "Let me tell you why I helped. Let me start at the beginning, but before I do, you have to promise me that you'll never tell Titus."

"That depends on what you tell me," Ilia replied. Camellia nodded once.

"Okay," Camellia agreed. "Admon and I came from the far unexplored north of Sanus, north of the kingdom of Vacuo even. We had been there our entire childhoods, just having reached young adulthood as we were suddenly overrun by Grimm without warning, the population of the creatures had boomed at the moment of Salem's last stand, something that you probably weren't alive for. Our village was wasted and very few of us remained, Admon and myself had more or less been orphaned. Using our abilities we did the best that we could to make a living. At first, it was petty crimes and after a few years, we had enough money to get out of the wasteland.

Admon knew how to fight, our father had taught him how to survive, knowing that it would carry him farther than any other skill, and with that knowledge in hand, Admon set his sights on joining the military. Atlas was the only kingdom that saw the necessity in such brute force at the time and so we sailed across the ocean, hoping that we could make a name for ourselves. We ended up in Mantle and became merchants, but as Admon would quickly find out, Mantle was the same as our village had been after it was destroyed and was less fruitful that he'd hoped. We lived there for a few years, all of our previously earned money had been put towards passage and we were poor. The people of Mantle could only pay us with food, they themselves had no lien to spare.

We had never killed anyone. It had never once crossed our minds but as Admon grew restless, I could tell that something was changing. He wanted the false power that Atlas had 'promised.' He would do whatever he needed to in order to get his hands on it. He made trips weekly to The Academy and I stayed behind, helping the people of the town. I wasn't interested in the money or power like Admon was, I was more than happy with the gratitude and joy of the people that I helped. Admon was becoming more hostile, he would come home, telling me that despite all of the skill and ability he had displayed to Ironwood, it would still be several months before they'd have an opening for him to enroll.

He began beating me to take out his anger and I grew to resent and fear him. I began to resent the people. If only they'd had money. If only they hadn't been victims of the same circumstance then my brother wouldn't have caused me pain. I was ready to leave, I planned on running away from Admon as far as I could. That's when I met Titus' mother. She took me in and cared for me, treated me like part of the family as Admon returned home to no one, his rage could be heard and felt throughout the town. After months of hiding, I was informed that it was safe to return to my home, Admon had cooled off after finding a job with adequate means of pay. I couldn't possibly ever thank her enough, and Titus was far too young to remember meeting me. I wouldn't see him for almost another ten years.

One day Admon came home soaked in blood, he told me that the Dust mine had caved in and that all of the men inside had died and that we needed to leave immediately. I was reluctant at first, my mind slowly piecing together the truth as he dragged me out of our home and began rushing towards the capital without a plan. Admon had killed all of the men inside, but not before robbing the Dust mine's safe which after some time he'd gathered was emptied out every week at a specific time. Admon had killed Titus' father. I left Admon for a long time, but he kept the money which left me no means of travel or survival. I was trapped and forced to survive in the streets of the capital.

Admon tracked me down after paying the right people and they put him in charge, he told me that he wanted me to lead beside him, but the decisions that he made were only power trips and I found no joy or honor in what he did. I regretted every moment, but as the council threatened his power more and more, he became more paranoid and I knew that if I left him or betrayed him, he would end my life. That's when word of Titus reached us. Admon had no idea who he was, just another recruit, a tool that Admon could mold as he was himself in the boy, another power hungry soldier who had spent his entire life in the slums. It was then I made a promise to myself to protect him. Everything that I've done may not have seemed like it was to his benefit, but sometimes minor things couldn't be avoided if I wanted for both of us to live. I pushed him out of the helicopter the day that Admon broke him, but I had warned his mother of the attack and unjammed the comms so that Winter could arrive more quickly.

Please don't tell him. I don't want him to be blinded by hate any more than he already is the next time that he squares off against Admon. Once Admon is dead he can know, but no sooner. I'm sure that you understand. I had to tell someone and I know that you care deeply for him, I watched the two of you carefully back at the school. Winter would tell him if she knew and Ironwood would immediately have both of our heads. I'm not claiming that I deserve to live, I've also done my fair share of killing. If anything I should at the very least be locked away forever. But I had to preserve both my life and Titus's." Ilia was in shock, her mind processing all of the information that she'd been giving and mulling it over in her head.

"I… I won't tell him," Ilia said. "You and I are the same…" Ilia hesitated for a moment. "I got caught up in the wrong group of people in Vacuo. I was on the run from my abusive father and joined Strakh Dust in an attempt to get back at him. Things didn't go well, at first it was stealing lien occasionally from stores which escalated into stealing weapons and Dust from the SDC during their drop-offs to killing. I never killed anyone for Strakh and I tried to escape him, living on the streets for several months, killing to survive and eat. He found me. The things he did to me once I was returned to him were far worse than anything my father could have even dreamed up.

I escaped again. Killed some of his men. Managed to get away once and for all… or at least I hope. I know he's still trying to find me, there's no doubt in my mind. But just like you, I'm scared of what will happen when he finds me and what my teammates will think when they find out all of the horrible things that I did in Vacuo. It's not our faults, but both you and I don't think they'll understand, right?" Camellia nodded.

"Thank you Ilia," Camellia said as she hung up the phone and left the room. Ilia watched her leave before returning to her own exit.  _No, thank you Camellia. For listening. You're the first person that I've ever told._  Ilia closed the door behind her and Titus gingerly rose to his feet, holding his side which was bandaged and wrapped.

"What did she say?" Titus asked.

"She said that it was all part of your training," she said. "What did you expect? From what you've told me in the past, it sounds like both of them can be pretty cryptic at times." Titus nodded.

"I guess it was nothing then," Titus said as he left the room ahead of Ilia. Ilia looked back at Winter.

"I can't discuss it at length right now, but can I make a request?" Ilia asked.

"That depends," Winter replied.

"Keep Camellia alive," Ilia said. Winter bit her lip and nodded.

"For now."

* * *

"Ilia, you look like you're about a million miles away, what's up?" Vincent asked as he sat next to her on the padded bench of their lane at the bowling alley. Ivory stepped up, wearing her school uniform from that morning and lining up her roll. She headed down the lane, overestimating and using her wings to keep her from crossing the fault line as she released the ball. Rowan, who was with them, laughed. He wore jeans and a wife beater, both stained from grease and oil, a leather vest over the top that used to be a jacket, but the arms had been torn off. His hair was red and spiked, matching the appearance of his flame-colored wings.

"Shut up Rowan!" Ivory growled as she knocked down five pins. He took a sip of his beer and exhaled in satisfaction as he stood behind her.

"Sis, you've got long ass legs, try starting further back," Rowan offered as advice. His black irises watched Ivory carefully as she tried again and picked up the rest of the pins. He chuckled and bowed as she glanced back at him and she sneered, flipping him off with both hands.

"I was thinking about something I learned during winter break, it's nothing," she reassured him. She glanced at him, noting his light blue button up and black dress pants. "Do you always look so dapper?" He laughed and moved out of the way as Ivory nearly sat down on his lap.

"Sometimes. Unlike Ivory here," he said. She stuck her tongue and chest out.

"I was going to ask Ilia here if she wanted to go back to the dorms and slip into something a little more comfortable," Ivory said with a lick of her lips and wink of her eye.

"Hands off Ivory, she's mine," Vin declared. Ivory rolled her eyes, folding her arms and turning away.

"Rowan, roll the damn ball already!" Ivory shouted at him. He set down his beer after another swig and gave her the bird as he picked up his ball and his wings burst into flames. It traveled the alley with incredible speed, a perfect strike that even threw some of the pins back out into the lane. Ivory leapt to her feet as Rowan posed. "You can't use your semblance, that's cheating!"

"Trying to impress someone?" Vincent asked with a crooked grin. Ivory shoved Vincent and sat back down. "You're up Ilia." Ilia nodded and brushed past Rowan, bumping into him and taking his body to bowl her next frame. Using his strength she also managed a strike and Vin chuckled as she took a sip from his beer. She jumped out and pat him on the shoulder.

"Thanks Rowan," she told him with a smile. He looked back at her slightly confused as Vincent stood to take his turn.

"No... problem?" Rowan stated.

"Hey, where is Yvonne anyways?" Ivory asked. Vincent concentrated on the pins before him and rolled the ball. Seven pins. He groaned and looked back at Ivory.

"She had some tutoring tonight," Vincent told them. Rowan made quotations with his fingers.

"Tutoring," Rowan repeated. Ivory chuckled.

"Who wants to head back to the beach house after this game for the night?" Ivory asked. "There won't be any more ships leaving for Beacon tonight, we could rent a movie."

"What do you say?" Vin asked Ilia. Ilia's mind returned to her conversation with Camellia.  _I know he's still trying to find me, there's no doubt in my mind._ Ilia had to just live despite the fear. She was still hesitant around IVRY, but they seemed normal and much like her initial paranoia that surrounded her teammates on NITE, she was sure it would subside. She nodded.

"Sounds great," Ilia replied with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have insight into what Camelia was doing, but is she telling the truth? Next week, NITE figures out Stardust's next move? Chapter 52 - Espionage!
> 
> A big thank you to Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	56. Espionage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NITE figures out a way to do some research on Stardust... but is it legal?

"What do we know?" Neela asked as she stood in front of Titus and Eliana at the end of the library. Titus was snoring at one of the computers and Neela could see that Eliana was playing Minesweeper through the mostly transparent screen. Neela stewed over the maps and pages of notes that were scattered across the table before her, racking her brain but severely affected by exhaustion that had set in. She sat and stretched, yawning as she tried her best to keep from dozing off. "Eliana, you think that maybe you want to get us some coffee?" Eliana sprang to her feet, logging out of her game and saluting.

"No problem!" Eliana exclaimed as she raced out of the library past Neo was clocking in for her shift. Neo noticed the students across the room and teleported over, waving with a smile to Neela and beating on Titus. She shook him by the shoulders and tried pushing him but it was no use. He wouldn't be moved and he refused to be woken up. Neo looked over at Neela, pointing at Titus and waving her arms in frustration. Neela waved her off.

"I'll take care of him in a little while," Neela told Neo. Neo rolled her eyes, shoving Titus one last time before heading back to the desk at the other end of the library. Ilia threw to doors open closest to Neela and sat down across from her.

"Did you guys have a rough night last night?" Ilia asked.

"No, we just haven't been to sleep yet. Had this hair brained idea that we should look into the Stardust incidents and see if there was anything we could do to prevent the next one, but all of these hits and heists are all pretty random. They don't all happen on the same day of the week, they're on different ends of town, and they never steal the merchandise to sell later, they only steal money, and quite a bit of it. They don't even take Dust from the Dust shops," Neela explained. Ilia looked at Neela's notes and read them over carefully.

"This is a radically different approach from the gang we have back in Vacuo," Ilia told her. "They stole everything, and I do mean everything. Any men that witnessed a crime were killed, and any women were forced into being Strakh's personal sex slaves. Usually, an entire shop would be bare, they'd sell everything down to the sink in the employee lounge to the black market in Mistral for a hefty profit. The only reason I can think that Stardust wouldn't is that they're only after one thing specifically and are worried that doing any more than is necessary might get them caught."

"That's probably true," Neela agreed. Ilia glanced about the room, obviously looking for something. "What's up?"

"Where is Eliana? She's always with you if you aren't at work," Ilia told Neela.

"She went to get us some coffee," Neela replied laying her head down on the table.

"Not a bad idea judging by the looks of you and the lieutenant over there," Ilia said.

Meanwhile, Eliana had already made it to the cafeteria and was on her way up to the kitchen when she spotted Coco entering the door opposite of her. She crossed the room, past several of the tables, and stopped her.

"Hello, Mrs. Adel!" Eliana exclaimed. Coco smiled at her, watching the students gather near the kitchen in some sort of commotion, only to turn away in frustration, grumbling in dissatisfaction as they headed back out. "What's going on? I've never seen the student body this agitated in a while."

"I'm right there with them, to be honest," Coco told her.

"Why's that?" Eliana asked. Coco turned away and Eliana followed suit as her field instructor leaned down.

"Can I let you in on a secret?" Coco asked. Eliana nodded.

"Of course," Eliana replied.

"As you might have heard if you're a coffee drinker like myself or your fellow students over there, we've been out for a few days now, a sudden inexplicable shortage and the vendors in town are out as well. However, I've been given some inside information that there is a shipment coming in from Mistral tomorrow," Coco informed her. Eliana glanced at her.

"Who told you that? No one but the shops themselves are supposed to know that," Eliana said.

"One of the shops I frequent told me, I am their greatest customer," Coco said as she stood back up. "It's a shame really that they ran out. Until the crisis ends, the companies exporting are going to see how desperate we are for it and make a killing, but I suppose that's supply and demand." Eliana's mind clicked and she looked at Coco.

"Do you know when the next Dust shipment will be in?" Eliana asked.

"Of course, next week Thursday night," Coco told her. "That's public knowledge though, Atlas sent the message out over the CCT a few days ago so that people didn't start panicking. Dust reserves are a touch on the low side considering all of the hijackings in Vacuo and White Fang threats forcing several Dust mines to close or work restricted hours." Eliana took off running from the direction she had come. "Hey wait!"

"Thanks!" Eliana called back without stopping. She ran across campus, storming into one of the main buildings, and crashing into the library. Neo leapt up onto the countertop she was working at and put a finger to her lips. Eliana waved her off. "Neela! I got it!"

"The coffee?" Neela asked.

"No! Where Stardust is going to be next!" Eliana exclaimed. Titus startled awake and rubbed his face.

"Huh?" Titus asked as he stood slowly and stumbled before Ilia grabbed him. "What's she yelling about?" Neela moved to her feet quickly and threw her arm over Eliana's shoulder.

"Why don't we take this out into the hall?" Neela asked. They stumbled as they scattered out and Ilia closed the doors behind them. "How did you figure it out, or more accurately, what did you figure out?"

"Coco was talking about a shipment of coffee coming in and it dawned on me that the public isn't usually allowed to know what day shipments arrive. Each Kingdom only has one bank that's run by the government, so each business has a specific drop off day that can't be rescheduled. They don't tell anyone what day it is because the two days that the business has the most money is the day of a shipment and the day they deposit money at the bank. Coco wouldn't have thought to ask that in her investigations and if the police asked, the business owners wouldn't have told them anyway," Eliana explained. "My dad told me that once."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with shipments?" Titus asked groggily.

"There must be a common thread between the Stardust robberies and they must be robbing shops during shipments," Eliana told them.

"How do you know that?" Ilia asked.

"All the news reports said the police were late getting there. If they robbed an armored van for the weekly drop off, the police would be notified immediately, and if they tried robbing the bank… that's pretty much suicide," Eliana said. "I'm still not sure how they know the shipment dates though, only the stores and the Council have that information."

"And everyone knows there will be one next week," Titus said. "But why would they hit such a high profile target? I'm sure that it's going to be just as heavily guarded as the bank."

"But they need Dust just as badly as the rest of us," Eliana said.

"They wouldn't risk it," Neela said.

"Then I guess we're back to square one unless we can figure out how they're getting their information because shipments are random unlike bank drop-offs," Eliana explained.

"You said only the Council and stores have that information, right?" Ilia asked. Eliana nodded. "So then we ask the council."

"They won't hand over that info, even if two of the Kingdoms are run by my family," Neela told Ilia.

"So we hack the info?" Eliana asked. Titus laughed.

"How? None of us have that kind of skill," Titus told her.

"Cobalt?" Ilia asked. They looked at her for a moment. Neela shrugged.

"Worth a shot," Neela agreed. They all left the building together, despite the fact that Neela was exhausted she felt good about the progress they'd made. It wasn't about revenge for the damage that had been done to her body. It was what she felt was their first step towards becoming actual huntsmen and huntresses.  _Just approach this like a hunt Neela, you can do this._  She was impressed by Eliana's breakthrough, her best friend still bouncing out in front of the group, full of energy. Ilia shook Titus by the shoulders as they walked, trying to wake him up and Neela trudged along in the back.

They arrived at the dorm after a few minutes, knocking on the door and waiting for someone to answer but no one did.

"Where do you think they are?" Eliana asked. Titus checked his scroll.

"It's early, they're probably sleeping," Titus told them. Ilia placed her hand against the door, pushing against it for a moment before nodding.

"Alright," Ilia said before grabbing Titus. Titus tried to wrench away but she took over his body and slammed into the door, knocking it down.

"What is wrong with you?" Titus asked.

"I thought we were on a roll!" Ilia stated as she left his body.

"You guys are kidding right now, right?!" Cobalt shouted from the bathroom and stepping out in his lounge pants. Lykos had slid out of his bed, Bái had rolled over and Tawney groaned as she stretched. "You bash our door in instead of waiting?"

"We're in a rush," Ilia said.

"No, we're not. I could use some sleep, to be honest," Titus said. Ilia looked down at the door and then back up at Cobalt again.

"You broke our door first," Ilia said. Titus shook his head.

"What was so important that it couldn't wait?" Lykos asked more aggravated than Cobalt.

"We need Cobalt's skills," Neela said. He smiled and puffed out his chest.

"So what skills are we referring to?" Cobalt asked. Ilia rolled her eyes.

"Don't get too excited," Ilia told him. "How good are you with hacking things?"

"What kind of things?" Cobalt asked coyly. Tawney leapt from the bed and twisted his arm behind him. "What do you need hacked?"

"Well, you see…" Neela started.

"Just some files from the Remnant Peace Council," Eliana stated with a smile. Tawney looked at them like they were crazy and let go of Cobalt.

"Are you mental? Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty tech savvy, mechanically inclined, and however else you'd want to describe my skills, but stealing files from the Council is not exactly my idea of a good time," Cobalt explained. "I'm going to have to decline." Cobalt began to walk away.

"He can't do it," Titus said egging him on.

"That's not going to work on me," Cobalt said. Lykos folded his arms and shook his head.

"You're not denying that you can't do it," Titus stated. Cobalt turned back to them.

"I can do it!" Cobalt said. "But the Council?! It doesn't matter if Neela has connections or not, we get caught doing this and we are going to be blacklisted or something to that effect."

"And again I say you can't do it. You seem adamant towards the fact that we are going to get caught. You can't do it," Titus said. Neela glanced at him. Titus wanted to put NITE on display as much as she did, she couldn't imagine why else the tight-lipped, by the book, military officer would agree to such a thing for. Cobalt stepped forward and grabbed Titus by the lapel and pulled him close.

"What's in it for me Gargoyle?" Cobalt asked. "You must have a little bit of authority with your rank. I want amnesty."

"That's not something I can do," Titus said.

"I'll let you touch my boobs," Eliana said. They all looked at her and she shrugged. "Sure, why not?" Cobalt grabbed his shirt off of his nightstand and ran out into the hall.

"I'll be back after breakfast! Tell me when and where and it'll get done!" Cobalt called back. Neela rushed out after him.

"No! No! I'll get you some manga or something! Get back here! Cobalt, she was kidding! Cobalt!" Neela yelled chasing him. Titus glanced at Eliana and then Ilia.

"Why would you tell him that?" Ilia asked.

"It got him to help didn't it?" Eliana asked. "I just want Neela to be happy." Eliana smiled at them and Lykos laughed.

"Neela's sure a lucky one," Tawney said with a pang of jealousy.

"Can I ask why you guys are hacking the Council's database?" Lykos inquired.

"Quiet!" Bái demanded. "I'm trying to sleep!" She tossed in her bed again and drew the covers over her head.

"Trying to catch the Stardust gang," Titus told him.

"The police and Coco have been after them for months now, what makes you think that we can get these guys?" Lykos asked.

"Aside from not breaking the law, we don't have any regulations," Ilia said. "No red tape."

"Hacking the database isn't breaking the law?" Tawney asked.

"Aside from breaking the law once," Ilia corrected herself. Tawney looked at Lykos.

"We want to help," Tawney told them.

"We can't let you guys run away with all of the glory," Lykos said.

"Great!" Eliana yelled.

"Okay, glad that you guys are on board, I'm going to take a nap," Titus said leaving the room. "Wake me up when we do something." Ilia looked down at the door and then back at Lykos.

"I'll help with the door," Ilia said.

* * *

"Stop!" Neela yelled. She pushed Cobalt in front of her and held back the rest of both of their teams behind her.

"I'm going to beat him to death!" Lykos shouted. "I'm going to tear him apart, find someone who can put him back together, and then tear him apart again!"

"Aren't you all overreacting just a bit?" Eliana asked.

"He spied on us in the showers, I wouldn't call this overreacting!" Ilia yelled.

"What's going on out here?" Velvet asked.

"Cobalt-kun was being a peeping tom," Bái exclaimed. Neela shoved Cobalt at Velvet.

"I can explain!" Cobalt shouted. "I dropped a spring that I needed for some of my new tech and it rolled into the doorway. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, so I picked it up."

"And you just happened to have your camera out?!" Ilia shouted.

"Calm down," Velvet told them. Titus pushed through and wrenched Cobalt's scroll away from him.

"I'm sure that there's proof on here!" Titus declared. Cobalt tried to grab it back but Velvet gripped Cobalt by the arm and pushed him into her office.

"Stay in there for a moment!" Velvet yelled. "Now one at a time, I want you to…" Someone shoved Velvet and she stumbled, glancing around and looking into the room to find Cobalt missing. The group shuffled, Cobalt taking off with Lykos close behind him. Velvet chased after them and they disappeared around the corner.

"Did it work?" Cobalt asked from around the corner.

"Why did we need a staff computer to do this?" Tawney asked.

"It's easier if I only have to deal with hacking the database itself, not the school's firewall also," Cobalt told her.

"Pretty crafty with the clone," Neela said as she stepped into the room with Titus, Bái, and Tawney closed the door. She looked at Bái.

"You and I are on guard," Tawney said. Bái nodded. "Cobalt said with Ilia jacking his clone's body, he should be able to maintain its body for longer. Plus Lykos plans to put on a show so Velvet will have to waste some time pulling the two of them apart."

"What do we do if someone comes?" Bái asked.

"Well, we can either ask the teacher to take us to a nurse, or I can pull off your bracelet, but I think that the former is the more practical of the two options," Tawney told her.

Cobalt locked the door and moved to the laptop with Titus and Neela. He sat down, cracking his fingers.

"Great, she logged out," Cobalt said sarcastically.

"Not a problem," Neela said. "Username: Yangarang and the password is BellabootyLover." Cobalt and Titus looked at her and she blushed, averting her eyes. "My mom needs help, I'd rather not talk about it."

"Well at least we have that problem out of the way," Cobalt said. His hands worked methodically on the keyboard and he wiped his brow on occasion. "Will Ilia and Lykos make it to the CCT tower before Velvet catches them?"

"Let's hope so," Neela said. "Velvet's quick, but if worst comes to worst, Ilia can make a last-ditch effort."

"Why didn't we send someone to the tower to begin with?" Titus asked.

"The less time spent in the tower the better," Cobalt informed him. "On top of being caught physically, I need the specialized drive, or rubber ducky if you will, inserted into one of the terminals for the shortest amount of time possible. As soon as that thing goes in, the Council and CCT personnel will know instantly that something is off. So to answer your question from this morning, I can do this, but it's improbable."

"I have faith in you," Neela said.

"Good, because I still demand compensation," Cobalt sneered.

"No, Cobalt," Neela said.

"Cobalt, no," Titus said. Cobalt shifted in his chair.

"Cobalt, yes!" Cobalt demanded. Velvet's scroll began ringing on the desk beside them, displaying a picture of Coco's face. "Well, that can't be good."

"Should we answer it?" Neela asked Titus.

"Wait until it finishes ringing and send a message back saying that we were in the middle of something with a student," Titus said. Cobalt quickly grabbed the scroll and silenced it. They looked at him.

"If Velvet silenced it, it would have gone to the answering machine right away, right?" Cobalt asked staring intensely at the screen. "C'mon Ilia…" Neela's scroll went off. She pulled it out, noting that it was Lykos.

"Yes?" She asked.

Lykos stepped inside of the tower and spoke with one of the operators.

"Hold on baby, let me ask," Lykos said. Neela put him on speaker. "Is it possible to make a call to Vale from here?"

"It is, but we recommend using your scroll if you know the number, it's cheaper," the woman replied.

"Did he call you 'baby'?" Cobalt asked.

"He's in character, shut up," Neela said.

"Do you know the number?" Lykos asked. "She doesn't know the number. If you can just direct me to one of the virtual assistants that can help me contact someone in Vale, I would appreciate it."

"Down the hall to the left," she told him.

"Thank you," Lykos replied.

"Take the door on the right before you reach the end of the hall and make sure that no one sees you," Cobalt instructed him. Lykos did so and closed the door behind him.

"Now what?" Lykos asked.

"What happened to Ilia?" Cobalt asked.

"We ended up separated and I didn't want to incur the wrath of Velvet. We're still on a strict timetable here, aren't we? I assume this is the server room, so where am I going?" Lykos asked.

"At the end of the room, there will be a service panel. It should just open and you should be able to insert the drive," Cobalt told him. Lykos did so and on the laptop the interface changed, prompting Cobalt to quickly bang out his next set of commands. Cobalt shifted in his seat and rapped on the keys again. "Okay okay. We're in. Somebody tell me quickly what we're looking for."

"Department of Finance information?" Neela asked. "We're looking for sales numbers… No, we're looking for the shipping records for Vale's port for the last several months!" Cobalt nodded and clicked the mouse a few times, hashing out another series of meaningless characters and words on the screen.

"There!" Cobalt pointed to the printer.

"Holy crap, he did it," Titus said. Cobalt quickly found his feet and logged out of the computer, moving and retrieving the pages as they printed.

"Lykos, take the drive with you and leave now," Cobalt told him. Titus and Neela walked in front of Cobalt and threw open the door to Velvet's office, running into Coco.

"Neela?" Coco asked.

"Aw shit," Cobalt replied.

"What were you doing in Velvet's office?" Coco asked. "And where is Velv? I tried her scroll, but she didn't answer." Neela glanced back at Cobalt.

"Why me?" Cobalt asked. "Why am I at fault for forgetting?"

"You silenced the scroll!" Titus exclaimed.

"We can explain," Neela said.

"We hacked into the Council's database and figured out where Stardust is going to attack next!" Cobalt blurted out. Titus sighed and Neela shook her head.

"I'm not paying you," Neela told him. She took the pages from him and mulled them over, picking over the specific days. "Their next hit won't be the Dust shipment." Coco took the papers from Neela. "They've only hit shipments that have come in from Mistral."

"The coffee shipment coming in tonight," Coco said. "I'll contact the Council. Dispose of this information. I'll get ahold of you this afternoon and do anything I can to help." Coco left them in a stunned silence as they all looked at each other.

"Tonight it is then!" Neela declared. She turned to Cobalt. "Thanks for the help, we couldn't have done it without you." He cheesed a smile at her.

"Anytime."

* * *

Sirius made an attempt to close the door quickly behind him as he entered one of the meeting rooms, but Orion pushed his way in and sat at the table with a cloaked figure, the woman that they had made the EMP drop off with, and Mercury, who had both of the Gemini twins beside him, once on each side. Sirius grabbed Orion by the arm and dragged the chair back.

"I apologize for Orion's actions sir, it would seem that he has forgotten his place and needs me to remind him," Sirius told Mercury trying to wrench him out of his chair. Mercury waved him off chuckling.

"We don't need to make a scene, we can let Orion sit at the big kids' table for a day," Mercury said. Sirius nodded, closing the door and leaned against it.

"Thanks, Merc," Orion told him cheesing a smile. Orion kicked his feet up on the table.

"Don't push your luck," Mercury told him. Orion slipped his feet back off and folded his hands, resting his chin on them.

"So what's the plan?" Orion asked.

"He's a bit daft, isn't he?" The cloaked man asked.

"You're one to talk, Paris. It infuriates me to think about how much further our plan could be along if you hadn't been so greedy and rash when you arrived at Beacon. Were you actually trying to rape the poor girl? Pure unbridled jealousy, blinding rage that you let get in the way of the mission," Mercury told him. Paris stood but Jett grabbed his wrist.

"Sit down Paris," Jett told him. "He overstepped no bounds, everything he said was the truth." Paris glanced at Mercury before looking at Jett. He sat forcefully. "You should be grateful that Mercury is housing you until we can figure out a way for you to be of use once more."

"Better hope it's quick," Mercury said. "Abigor has no patience for slip-ups, though if I were you, I'd be more worried about Jett. Abigor might be the judge and the jury, but Jett here is the executioner."

"Your words do not scare me," Paris told Mercury. "We still have our arrangement. You will provide me with the funds I seek, and I will provide you with Bái."

"Might I ask who Abigor is?" Orion asked. Jett stared at him from the other end of the table.

"Now I see why you sent Sirius instead of Orion," Jett told Mercury. "He is quite dense." Mercury nodded.

"He is," Mercury said.

"He's not the brightest bulb in the box," Asteria said.

"Not the brightest star in the sky Asteria," Astra said.

"Good one Astra," Asteria replied. Orion looked back at Sirius.

"Did I say before that I found them endearing?" Orion asked.

"Remind me again why you let him stay?" Jett asked Mercury.

"He might be dense, to say the least," Sirius told Jett. "But he is one of our better fighters. We'll need him during the exchange tonight." Sirius walked to the table and set a holographic projector down in the middle that displayed the port. "Are they sending the normal crew?"

"No, but these men are well aware of what is expected of them," Jett said. "The soldiers that normally help out had to stay back in Mistral, they're to be dispatched for the woods around Vale next week in another vain attempt to try and flush out Athena," Jett explained. "Besides, if we keep using the same officers someone might finally figure out the common thread and in turn, Sterling would have those men killed."

"The task is simple. The goods will be given to the vendors as is our common practice and once they leave, the soldiers will hand over the money. Then we rough them up a little bit and place an anonymous tip to the police telling them about the robbery. By the time they show up, we'll be gone," Sirius explained. "We have no reason to expect any resistance, with next week's Dust drop off I'm sure that everyone will be far more occupied with preparing their defenses for that shipment. We anticipate that they've put two plus two together already. It's more than likely that they know what the EMP does and it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to know that it runs on Dust and lots of it. They'll be expecting us to rob the Dust."

"But we won't," Mercury added.

"Won't need to. We'll be able to purchase all of the Dust required and still have money to spare," Sirius told Jett. "Mercury plans to oversee the job himself tonight, accompanied by Paris, myself, and Aurora."

"Aurora?" Orion asked looking up at Sirius. "Really?"

"Why not?" Sirius asked.

"If things really do go sour, you'd rather have Aurora than me?" Orion asked.

"Orion…" Sirius seethed through gritted teeth.

"Let him finish," Mercury said. Orion smirked and nodded to Mercury.

"If I'm not mistaken Sirius, I'm the one who saved you from Xiao Long," Orion reminded him. "You were so determined to show that girl how cruel the world could be that you underestimated her and she made a fool of you. I'm willing to bet that if I hadn't been there, you might have died." Sirius looked pissed, he knew that Orion was right.

"Take Orion instead," Mercury said.

"But sir!" Sirius protested.

"He proved himself last time, there's no need to play our ace yet," Mercury told Sirius. Sirius took a deep breath and bowed slightly to Mercury.

"Of course. I'll let Aurora know that we are not yet in need of her services," Sirius declared as he left the room.

"Do we need to worry about this Xiao Long?" Paris asked. "I fought with one of the 'promising' first-year students, I was less than impressed… He was more of a nuisance really."

"Team NITE isn't to be taken lightly. What Orion says is true, Neela almost killed Sirius, and the other three teammates of hers forced the twins to use their semblance. Even Athena has taken notice of them, they're first on her short list for securing Vale," Mercury explained.

"Camellia delivered the files to Crimson a while ago, Athena has some of her best work with Admon on decrypting them," Jett informed them. "Though if Athena fails, I wouldn't say we should go out of our way to take them down. Unnecessary precautions will get us nowhere." They all nodded. Jett stood first, Mercury following suit and shaking her hand. "It's settled then. I'll be back in a few months. I look forward to our next meeting."

"As do I," Mercury said.

"Paris, keep a level head," Jett told him. She nodded at Orion and left the room. Paris stood and left the room next, Mercury close behind. Orion smiled at the girls as they stopped beside him and rubbed his shoulders.

"Sirius could have died," Astra said.

"Orion saved him, Astra," Asteria said.

"Perhaps we should repay him, Asteria," Astra replied.

"Would that please you, Orion?" Asteria asked. Orion smirked.

_I could get used to this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NITE thinks they know what Stardust is planning and Orion is doing his best to move up the ranks. Next week, a peek into Ilia's past and another fight in Chapter 53 - NITE vs Stardust Redux!
> 
> A big thank you to Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	57. NITE vs. Stardust Redux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NITE has a plan for taking on Stardust again. Will they succeed this time?

"Go!" Jaune yelled. Ilia charged in at him, both of her blades meeting his shield at the same time and he forced her back, swinging his sword and slicing across her aura at stomach level.

"What am I doing wrong?" Ilia asked.

"You shouldn't use both blades as one unless you are landing a blow that absolutely cannot miss," Jaune explained. "When you're fighting anyone who has dual weapons such as myself, if the attack fails, you might be left in a compromising position. Sure if you use one blade, it might not have as much force behind it, but then you aren't left as defenseless. You're fast and agile, you should use that to your advantage, not power. Let that be Titus's thing, your thing should be occupying, distracting, and obviously infiltrating."

"Can we go once more?" Ilia asked breathing heavily.

"Sure you've got another round in you?" Jaune asked.

"I can outlast you old man," Ilia replied. He laughed and prepared his stance.

"Okay," he told her. She took off, sprinting full speed and firing at him. He deflected, swinging his sword around with enough force to throw a shockwave of displaced power at her but she leapt out of the way, rolling to her feet and still firing. She came in close, this time bringing down one blade and letting it glance off of the shield. He moved in quickly to strike at her but she met it, clashing as their blades slid against each others'. Ilia fired at his feet, forcing him to slide back and she matched his advance, swinging and meeting his shield. "Good."

"I can do better," she reassured him. She unleashed a flurry in sequence, their weapons crashing off of each other as they danced around the arena, neither gaining the upper hand as continued. Ilia gave herself a moment by allowing him to use his shield to throw her back, she was aware enough of her balance to load Dust clips before regaining a footing. Jaune's shield crashed into her chest again, causing her to leave the ground and as she did she unloaded on him, the explosion of the fire Dust wasn't enough to damage his aura, but it was enough to throw him backward. She landed on her back, flipping backward the rest of the way and using her hands to bounce to her feet.

"You're right, it's better, but is it enough?" Jaune asked. More bullets rained down on Jaune and he used his shield to conceal his body but she arrived more quickly than he thought she would, front-flipping off of the top of his shield and landing behind him, quickly reaching back and grabbing his neck. She took his body and tossed his shield and sword away.

"I would say so," she uttered through his mouth. She let go of his body and as she left he stepped forward swiftly. He grabbed her wrist and blocked her other arm with his elbow, quickly sliding his hand up and unfastening her gun. She tried to deal a blow with her opposite arm again but he refused to let his arm be moved, wrenching off her first gun and throwing it away. He wrapped his free hand around her neck, bringing her head down to meet his knee as she made a last-ditch effort at attack with her weapon, but still his blocking technique held up. Her head rang and nose was in pain, he maneuvered her to remove her other gun and held the blade at her throat.

"Was it?" He asked. She stood in stunned silence, gripping her nose as she shook her head and he handed back the gun in his hand.

"How did you do that?" She asked.

"Does it matter?" Jaune replied. "You can't rely on your semblance. The worst thing that a huntsman or huntress can do is become a one trick pony. Unless that one trick is using silver eyes in which case then you can. But since you lack those… You know what? It sounded better in my head when I started, but I think you get the point."

"But normally it works!" Ilia told him.

"Against classmates and second-rate goons maybe," Jaune informed her. "When you face off against someone as skilled as me or even more so, they'll be able to see right through that sort of thing. Not all semblances are strictly offensive, that could be said about your entire team. You all have a general concept of the basis for how each of your semblances work, but the overall goal is to hone them and determine their best usage. Yours is probably better for a surprise attack during an infiltration or listening in on conversations. It can be used in a pinch from time to time, but you can't rely on that as a last ditch effort or even as a finishing move. Just because someone is disarmed doesn't mean that they can't defeat you."

"I think you got lucky," Ilia said defending her pride. Jaune chuckled.

"That so?" He asked. "Would you like to give it another go then?" She laughed and shook her head.

"Nah, I think getting beat by you once a day is more than enough for me," Ilia said. They headed back to the campus and Ilia's scroll went off. She checked it and put it back away, smiling to herself.

"Still seeing Vincent?" Jaune asked. She nodded.

"Things are going well," Ilia told him. "I've started opening up to them." Jaune placed a hand on her shoulder.

"That's a big step for you, isn't it?" He asked her.

* * *

_She's got curves to be sure, and I can only imagine what her breasts look like without that top on…_

"Strakh!" She shouted out. She was chained to a large metal support beam in the middle of an old warehouse, her eyes on his the entire time as his men grabbed at her clothes for a peek. She thrashed against them. "Let me down you son of a bitch! We'll see how tough you and your men really are!" His eyes never left her, a fire burning deep within them as he smirked.

"I told you what would happen if you tried to leave girl!" Strakh shouted out. "You killed several of my men and you threatened to go to the police! You must be taught a lesson, and there are only one of two ways that we can do that. Either you let my men have their fun with you, or you go back into solitary. I know how much you love it in that cold, dark, soundless pit. Screaming for someone, anyone to come save you, but they never come. You had nowhere left to turn. You came to me for safety and promised me that you'd help further my empire. After everything I've done for you, you will pay me back somehow."

"I've robbed more Dust cargo than anyone in this room! You wanted us to kill innocent SDC employees!" She shouted back at him.

"They are far from innocent!" He yelled back. "And yes, you have done more than all of the men in this room combined because let's face it, they're expendable and weak… but not you. I need your gift. Your gift is what will thrust me to power, it will push me to the top of Remnant and as I look down from above, I will remember what you did to help me and I will show you mercy."

"Like you are now?" She asked. He gritted his teeth.

"No! Now you are rebellious and need to be punished!" He shouted. He left and slammed the door to the office behind him as the men swarmed in again.

"This'll be over soon," one said.

"You're going to enjoy it, don't act like you won't," said another.

"I'm surprised the boss didn't want you to himself," offered a third.

"Relax," said a fourth as he moved in and kissed her neck. She reluctantly accepted his mistake and disappeared as he stumbled back, the men staring around in confusion. "Where the hell did she go?"

"Keep your eyes peeled!" The second declared. Ilia leapt out of his body from his backside, grabbing her weapon from off of the crate behind him and slicing clean through his neck. He collapsed as the men looked on in horror.

"Anyone else here suicidal?" She asked staring wildly at them. "Hmm?!" Something hard hit her in the back of the head and she collapsed to the ground.

_Throw her in the pit, it'll give her some time to cool down._

* * *

"That might be an understatement," Ilia replied.

"Good," Jaune said. "IVRY seems like a pretty sturdy and clean team."

"Well, that depends on how you define clean," Ilia said. She chuckled. "Typical teenage stuff, nothing to worry about." Jaune nodded.

"Right." Ilia left Jaune and grouped up with her teammates. "Did we meet up with Coco yet?"

"Yeah," Neela said. "It's a good thing you showed up now, we're leaving on the last airship in a few minutes. She talked to the police and told them to redistribute the patrols to force the drop off to happen at a specific pier. They reluctant at first because we wouldn't tell them why, but a phone call from my Aunt Ruby quickly changed their minds."

* * *

"The worst part of these is the wait!" Eliana groaned as she sat inside of the warehouse with Neela, perched in one of the second level windows with the lights killed behind them so that only someone looking for them would see them. At a passing glance, they looked like no more than part of the shadow inside of the building and Neela kept her bow trained on the men as they unloaded the coffee to the vendors. The anticipation fed into Neela's ego, she loved the feeling of watching and waiting, hunting her target. Baiting the Stardust gang and luring them into the attack. This time they were prepared and knew what the enemy presented.

"Anything from the road?" Neela asked. Titus stood on the corner of the road opposite of the alleyway and looked up at the street lamp before checking his watch.

"Nothing yet, though at this rate I think that Ilia and I might need to take a trip around the park just to avoid suspicion," Titus told her. He pulled out his scroll, glancing up through it and taking a picture of the alleyway before walking down the street away from it. "Actually, Ilia can stay put, she's pretty concealed in the building there. I'm going to sit in the park for a few minutes and then I'll return to the corner here."

"Okay," Neela agreed as she watched the last vendor finish up and transfer the funds digitally like the last several had done.

"I have movement," Ilia said. She pulled the door shut and peered out the peephole.

"What did they arrive in?" Neela asked.

"They didn't, they just kind of appeared from a tear in space or something crazy like that. One of them I recognize from our initiation, the other guy here has silver hair, maybe gray?" Ilia offered.

"Sounds like Mercury came out for his own dirty work today," Eliana said. "I've read his profile many times, that's him. Who else?"

"Orion and Sirius," Titus replied as he followed them from half a block back and stepped into the building with Ilia. They slowly made their way through to the opposite end, awaiting orders.

"Damn. You kids were right," Coco replied. "Keep your eyes peeled, good work so far. I'm going to see if I can dig anything up on these soldiers from Mistral, hopefully, they know what they're doing. Neela, don't let them transfer the funds, even if it means giving yourself up early."

"Right," Neela replied. She drew back her bow and trained it on Mercury, following him the whole time. "Mercury has mechanical legs, right?"

"Yeah, I assume you have a plan," Eliana asked Neela. Neela smirked and selected lightning for her next tip on her armband. She drew back the arrow once more and waited, breathing slowly.

"Titus and Ilia, you two are up!" Neela told them.

"Got it," Ilia replied for the two of them. Titus knocked over a large rack in the warehouse, the crash drawing the attention from the gang and soldiers, all of them looking on in hesitation.

"Mercury," Orion asked.

"Paris can go check it out," Mercury said.

"Did he say Paris?" Coco asked.

"That's what it sounded like," Neela replied as she watched him break off and head for the second warehouse.

"That slimy little creep," Coco said. A moment of silence as Paris slipped around the corner and returned to Mercury with a puzzled look.

"Nothing," he replied. "A rat or something must have caused a shelf to fall."

"Bad news," Coco said over the radio. "These men don't show up in the system, or more accurately, they're all AWOL."

"Meaning?" Asked Eliana.

"They aren't with the Mistral military," Coco replied. "They're mercenaries. Sterling would never agree to this, someone else must be on the inside at Mistral pulling the strings, but it's hard to say who. Could be a lower level, ex-military, ex-government, anybody. If Cobalt could hack the Council with 'ease', it could be another hacker who's playing around in the system. Either way, the council needs to know. I'll contact them once we're done here."

"You must be Mercury," called out one of the Mistralis.

"And you must be the General I'm here to meet," Mercury replied. "It's a pleasure to do business with you."

"The pleasure is all mine, and please, call me Saturn," the man replied.

"These men think they're tricky," Coco said.

"What do you mean?" Eliana asked.

"Saturn was a plant from the Council in the Mistral Military to make sure they weren't planning for a global attack. Once his mission was fulfilled he was to return to the Council and report his findings, which he did. This man is not Saturn. He's trying to frame the Council for these robberies," Coco said. "I'm sure of it, his face doesn't match that of Saturn's in the database."

"In short, he can't escape?" Neela asked.

"Right, but he also can't give the money up either," Coco said. Neela watched as Mercury brought his scroll up.

"You kids ready to get this party started?" Neela asked.

"On your word Neela," Titus replied.

"Stardust round two," Neela said. She released the arrow and it crashed clean through Merc's scroll, ripping it from his hand and pinning it to the ground as it shattered on the concrete. Merc spun, kicking his leg and sending a shot towards Neela's direction but Eliana's force field deflected it and they moved back to their next mark. "I was supposed to get two off right away."

"Would you have preferred that shot hit you?" Eliana asked.

"No," Neela replied.

"Then you're welcome," Eliana told her. Titus smashed both of his kopides into the ground as he kicked open the door, a wave of fire separating Paris and Orion from Sirius and Mercury, both the pairs stepped back from the unexpected attack and Titus charged out, taking cover behind a shipping container.

"You said that there wasn't going to be any heat!" Saturn shouted as he opened fire at Titus who was hiding. Mercury pointed for Sirius to take the long way around the container.

"There wasn't supposed to be," Mercury replied. "Can you do it with my routing number?" Saturn nodded but as he removed his scroll it was shot out of his hand, it splashed into the water and the two men glanced up at Eliana who smiled as she blew on the end of her gun.

"Hey boys," she called out. "Things not going as planned?" Orion turned to aim but was struck by Paris, one of the kunais jamming into his arm.

"I feel as though that might be a design flaw," Paris said.

"What the hell are you doing?" Orion asked. "Mercury!"

"We're leaving!" Saturn said as he attempted to gather his men.

"You haven't transferred the funds yet!" Mercury shouted at him. Saturn sneered and turned away.

"We'll be in touch," he replied. "Men! Now!" An arrow struck Mercury in the back on the left leg, shorting it out and sending him to the ground.

"Sirius!" Mercury shouted. As Sirius reached the other side of the container he found Titus who was pushing against it, unable to make it move. He laughed nervously.

"I don't suppose you'd like to help?" Titus asked. Sirius formed the bone into a sword and swung down, only to be greeted by a forcefield. He pulled back and Titus burst through, driving him all the way back to the warehouse that he and Ilia were originally hiding in. Neela regrouped with Eliana and grabbed her, swinging down to the ground as Ilia left Paris's body, Eliana pistol-whipping him in the back of the head and dazing him. She trained her other gun on Orion.

"You have any of that experimental ammo on you?" Neela asked Eliana. She shook her head.

"No. Besides, I haven't had time to test it yet anyway," Eliana replied. Orion turned into an orb of light and floated to Mercury to regroup.

"You kids shouldn't be out here at night!" Paris yelled. He opened his rift and grabbed Eliana quickly by the arm, dragging her in and closing it behind.

"Eliana!" Neela shouted.

"Neela, don't lose focus. Saturn. Stop him. I'm on my way now, I'll be there in a few, at least keep him there for now," Coco told her.

"I'll go after Mercury and Saturn. You've got my back?" Neela asked. Ilia nodded.

"Of course," Ilia replied. They moved in quickly, Neela subduing two of the soldiers as they attempted to flee onto the boat. Ilia opened fire at Orion who used his shield to block, protecting both him and Mercury as they strafed behind another shipping container. Neela loaded a gravity arrow, preparing a second and firing them in succession, rupturing the side of the ship and its contents as it took on water.

"Who is this girl?!" Saturn asked.

"About to be dead!" Mercury groaned. He charged out with Orion, directing him at Ilia and going after Neela who took a few steps back. His left leg reactivated, snapping the arrow stuck within as it extended and he leapt into the air, coming down at Neela for a kick and she used her bow to block him. He leapt off of it into the air, she slid backloading an arrow and quickly firing, but he blasted it away. He knew what he was doing. Neela fired where he was going to land but he used another blast beneath him to propel himself into the air, landing on the container and watching the arrow explode. "You must be Neela."

"You must be Mercury," she replied. "It's an honor to take on one of the greatest criminals of Vale's last decade." He rolled his eyes.

"I'm flattered," he told her.

"I can tell," she responded. He ran at her once again, she formed her sword this time and swung at him but he leapt over her and she activated her semblance, sliding forward with one foot as he landed behind her and made an attempt to kick her. She batted his foot away with her blade and he landed on it, kicking up the other and blasting her in the chest, forcing her to stumble back.  _He's agile Neela, his feet are his greatest asset, you can do this._  She found her balance and he was approaching her in a sprint, leaping up and preparing to land a critical blow. His feet met her bow again and he leapt off, offering a volley of shots that she rolled out of the way of.

Neela released an arrow that he attempted to blast away again, but it exploded and threw him off balance. He used the momentum to spring off of his hands and he landed as Neela had reduced the gap. He raised his left leg, firing off two shots that Neela batted with the bow still formed, firing another arrow. He scoffed unimpressed, shooting the arrow down, but not before she managed to grapple his foot. She pulled him in and fired an ice arrow into his chest. He fired from his trapped foot, freeing his ensnared leg but slowed from the ice as Neela fired two more, each one nailing him in the chest. A look of horror overcame his face as she approached him, his body moving slow enough that she could easily kill him.

"I recommend you give up your work here," Neela told him. She removed a device and set it inside of his boot, revealing a remote detonator. "My friend gave this to me. If you jostle that around too much, it's more than enough earth Dust to turn you to stone until someone can come find you and free you. If you manage to keep still for long enough and I'll set it off on my way out to make sure that the police can come pick you up. Thanks." Neela took off.

* * *

"Why so serious?" Titus asked as he grappled with Sirius and headbutted him.

"I hate puns," Sirius told him shoving him back.

"Really?" Titus asked. He removed his swords and they sparked as he clashed them together. "Shocking."

"I'm starting to hate you," Sirius replied as their weapons clashed, he opted for a long katana that was light and allowed him to repel the dual blades. "And here I thought that you were the serious one out of the bunch."

"I am most of the time, but I guess Eliana rubbed off on me more than I care to admit," Titus told him. Titus changed his blades to earth and planted them into the floor beneath him, separating him and Sirius for a moment as Ilia burst through the door out of breath. "Ilia."

"That Orion is stronger than his profile gives him credit for," Ilia said. A wave of gravity crashed into the building, collapsing the front wall and taking part of the ceiling before threatening the rest of the building. Titus loomed over Ilia quickly protecting her from debris.

"You're going to hate me, but we don't have another option!" Titus yelled. He pulled Ilia to the floor and slammed his blades hard into the ground, covering them in a rock shell, much like the one he had trapped her in when he first met her.

"Titus!" She yelled. Her breathing became extremely rapid as she clung tight to him, he could hear the building crashing down around them, support beams and other equipment crashing off of their dome. He wrapped his arms tight around her and held her securely as she frantically tried to bury herself in his torso. "Let me out! Let me out, Titus! Let me out! I need out!"

"I can't," he spoke softly. Her breathing labored and frequent as she collapsed in his arms from lack of oxygen. He pulled her into his chest and held her gingerly. "Neela, we need to bail. Come get me when you can."

"I see you. I'm on my way. Did Orion and Sirius get away again?" Neela asked.

"If they weren't crushed, then yes."

* * *

"Let's cut to the chase Eliana," Paris said as they paced in a circle away from each other. "I don't give a shit about you or your friends. All I care about is getting my hands on that Bái and teaching her a lesson. Let me go and I'll let you live. If we're going to have to fight here, I can't guarantee you that luxury."

"Bái is my friend, I'm not going to let you touch her," Eliana said. "I won't let you touch any of my friends, and I will prove myself to Neela."

"You were that annoying girl at the assembly, weren't you?" He asked. Eliana smiled.

"My reputation precedes me!" She exclaimed.

"I wouldn't take pride in that," Paris told her. His arm raised just enough to part his cloak and fired his Dust senbons at her but they were greeted with a forcefield, shattering off as she opened it momentarily to fire several bullets. He lifted his arm and seemed to take the shots with no effect, both of them still pacing in a circle. "Clearly this won't ever end for either of us and we'll be left to find out who succumbs to exhaustion first."

"I have homework due on Monday, so I can't really be trapped in here for that long," Eliana told him.

"Oum, how can you be so naive?" He asked. She fired again, this time aiming at the other side of his body but he turned quickly and blocked with the same arm. She withheld a smirk from her mouth. "Homework. Neela. School. Your precious father." His mocking struck a nerve as she froze.

"Elli, are you there?" Neela asked.

"What did you say?" Eliana asked.

"It's always the same with you," Paris said. "Home-"

"I never said anything about my father with you around," Eliana said. Her eyes burned with fire and she threw him back with a forcefield. "How do you know about my father?"

"You did speak of him!" Paris shouted. She fired several rounds at him, pinning his guarding arm back, every bullet taking a decent amount of aura from him.

"I was only with you once, the day of initiation and only briefly before it began. I didn't say anything about my father then!" She yelled. Her forcefield shoved him to the wall and pinned him there, he strained and groaned as he struggled against it.

"I don't know anything about him!" Paris shouted. Eliana's forcefield pushed harder, her body shaking.

"Eliana!" Neela called out. "Answer me!" Paris managed to open a rift at that moment and he stumbled out, gripping his favored arm as he collapsed on the ground and Eliana stepped out after him. Neela spotted her and Eliana pointed her gun at Paris's head. "Elli! Stop! What are you doing!?"

"He knows something!" Eliana exclaimed. "Something about my father! Were you watching him? What did he do that drew your attention? What do you know!?"

"You can't kill him, your father wouldn't want that!" Neela shouted at Eliana. Neela ran over. "Don't. This isn't the way to find out." Tears filled Eliana's eyes.

"Look at him!" Eliana yelled. Deep behind the fear and surprise in Paris's eyes, there was amusement, Neela could see that he was smug despite his position. "Grimm killed my father! But there must be more to it!" Paris cracked a smile.

"There is no more to it," Paris cackled. "He died to the Grimm like the weak man he was." Coco grabbed Eliana's hand and pried the gun away as Eliana had tried to pull the trigger.

"Eliana, that's not what you want. Trust me, I know," Coco told her. Paris laughed as he slid back.

"All of you are unbelievable! All of you! Can you all be so dense? Abigor knows everything! It's only a matter of time until…" A gunshot rang out and struck Paris in the knee and he cried out as his aura nearly broke, spotting the masked woman on the rooftop across from them.

"The woman from before!" Neela shouted as she took off running and grappled the roof. They watched her for a moment and turned back to Paris to find that he'd disappeared, slipping into his semblance. Coco looked around and shrugged.

"Well, this went better than last time at the very least," Coco said noting Mercury who had been turned to stone. "The police intercepted the men that were escaping including that phony Saturn, and they'll clean up here." Coco turned to Eliana as Titus and Ilia came over to join them. "We can talk later about what happened, okay?" Eliana nodded as she stood in shock and looked at her hands.

"Are you okay?" Titus asked. Eliana looked up at him and nodded, though she wasn't completely with herself and glanced back at where Neela had disappeared.

"I think so," Eliana replied. Neela came back to the edge of the roof and looked down at them. She swung down, noticing Ilia in Titus's arms.

"Is she alright?" Neela asked. Titus nodded. Neela threw her arm over Eliana who faked a smile. "We did it, right?"

"Right," Eliana agreed half-assed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NITE claimed a win this time against Stardust! Next week, Cobalt must be dreaming again in Chapter 54 - Red Dead Delusion!
> 
> A big thank you to Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	58. Red Dead Delusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elli feels she's to blame for NITE failing to capture all of Stardust, and Cobalt visits the Wild West?!

Athena stepped out of her hut for the morning and walked past the fields for farming as she entered the village, greeting some of the children with a smile and a few apples which they accepted graciously in the deep of winter and ran back to their housings for warmth. The cold hadn't bothered Athena in a long time, she'd grown accustomed to it during her endless months inside a cage in the middle of their old settlement. She inhaled the icy air deeply into her lungs and watched the smoke roll out of the chimneys. They had gathered all that they could for the winter and if they rationed it properly, it would last them long enough. Ebony insisted on hunting and had brought back meats from different woodland creatures that were appreciated and well received by all with the exception of Crimson.

Despite the fact that Ebony had been with them for several months now, Crimson hadn't grown to care for her or trust her anymore and only viewed her as competition. Somedays Athena grew sick of their bickering and forced them to stop and get along with one another, but on most days she let them do as they would and fight it out. It pleased her to think that both women were fighting to serve as her second, even more so when they came to her in the night to release their frustration. Athena spotted Crimson who approached and knelt before her, bowing.

"Mistress. My Goddess. How wonderful to meet you this morning, and in such stark contrast with the white landscaping poised behind you. It only amplifies your beauty and magnifies your majesty," Crimson said, taking her hand and kissing it before Athena bade her to stand.

"How goes the reconstruction project?" Athena asked her as they made their way towards the temple.

"We are almost finished Mistress," Crimson told her. "Even despite Ebony trying to set us back."

"How so?" Athena asked.

"She insists on making changes. Making your throne larger, more pronounced. I tried to tell her that it wasn't in your designs, but she gives the orders to the workers anyway, as though they came directly from you my Goddess. I can see to it that she is punished if you so desire, I can make her pay for her blasphemy," Crimson droned on. Athena waved her off as she stepped into the temple.

"That won't be necessary," Athena told her. The workers knelt as she entered and she waved her hand, motioning for them to stand. Ebony ran quickly to her and bowed her head.

"Mistress, I was unaware that you would personally be stopping in this morning to check on us. I'm glad to say that we are nearly finished, it won't be but another day or two," Ebony told her. Athena smiled softly and nodded her head once.

"And I am glad to hear it," Athena told her walking towards the throne. "Might I ask why the throne seems… different?" Ebony approached her and knelt.

"That last throne simply would not do Mistress. You will soon be the Goddess of all of Remnant, that small throne in which we won a part of our rights back is not pronounced enough. It needs to respect authority as you respect authority," Ebony explained. Another nod from Athena as Crimson covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.

"I agree," Athena said. She permitted Ebony to rise and Crimson watched with her mouth agape, Ebony and Athena looking deeply into each other's eyes. Athena glanced at Crimson from the corner of her eye, satisfied to see that her handmaiden was worked up and ready to explode. "I trust that the two of you can come together long enough today to finish this, hm?" Both of the women knelt and bowed their heads.

"Yes Mistress," they told her in unison. She smiled at them and waved her hand once more, leaving the temple as they both stood. Crimson grabbed Ebony by her top and drove her back into a wall.

"Shouldn't you take me to dinner first?" Ebony asked. "Even Raven wasn't this forward."

"You think this is funny? I can see right through you bitch. You put on this act to impress Athena but all that you're really doing is sucking up to her and kissing ass," Crimson said. "You don't truly love her the way I do. You're not as strong as you let on either, you were nearly killed by that girl, bested by her, to say the least."

"I only lost because Raven showed up," Ebony said. "You're telling me that you genuinely love that monster? That you aren't just trying to ensure a seat at her lap when she destroys the entire world?" Crimson shoved her harder against the wall and Ebony grunted.

"Athena saved me. Saw the beauty in me. Gave me new life," Crimson explained. "I love her with every fiber of my being and if she needed to take my life, I would gladly give it to her if it gave her joy." Ebony shoved her off.

"I'm here for the long haul. Kiss ass or not, Athena chose me for my strength and unless I fail her miserably, she won't get rid of me, she needs my skills," Ebony said.

"More than you know," Crimson muttered. Ebony walked away and began working on something as Crimson glanced over her rod. She could waste its power and end it quickly, but then she would have no time to savor the victory, and if there was anything that brought her more pleasure than bringing happiness to her Goddess, it was eliminating threats and tasting their blood. She placed the rod back and unsheathed Wither, Athena's old blade that she had been entrusted with and charged at the woman as her back was turned.

"Not so fast," Ebony told her spinning around to greet Crimson's blade with her knife claws. Ebony threw one of her daggers, watching it plant in a pillar behind Crimson and wrapping the other around her neck, choking her. "You think I'm that weak? I grew up in a murderous clan that didn't allow for sleep. I'm on alert at every moment, every sense on fire and ready for the impending attack. I can't kill you though, then I might lose favor with Athena, and we can't have that. Not if I'm going to ride her coattails to victory and kill her once we've seized control of it all." Crimson brought her blade up, risking cutting her own neck to free herself of the Dust line that connected the two daggers.

"I'd say that you have the disadvantage then because I have no qualms over killing you," Crimson replied. Crimson knocked her back, charging in and running her blade through Ebony who dissipated into smoke.

"Lucky for me that we fixed the roof quickly in here," Ebony said. "Every torch that we stand in front of casts a shadow." Crimson shook in anger as she turned to face the woman. "Care to keep going?" Ebony reached down and picked up her second dagger, connecting it back to the first.

"You think your shadows can save you?" Crimson asked. "You lost to a huntress in training at night." Ebony frowned.

"So be it," Ebony replied. Ebony threw it like a disc, it spun towards Crimson who deflected it without giving it a second thought, slicing at Ebony as the daggers came back and glanced off of her arm. Crimson snatched them out of the air and used it to block Ebony's claws, swinging with her katana. She made contact, slicing through Ebony's aura and forcing her to break free and take solace in the shadows. Crimson waited, Ebony freed herself from the darkness behind Crimson, grabbing her katana by the blade and wrenching free the daggers. She made the mistake of letting the blade draw blood, Ebony getting away for only a moment.

"Do you not understand how my semblance works?" Crimson asked with a crazed grin. "Or did you think you could defeat me regardless of the fact?"

"I'll take my chances," Ebony said. They met each other again in a flurry, Crimson attacking with a force that surprised even Ebony who had been trained to expect everything. Ebony was forced back by Crimson until she slammed into a wall. "I… I can still… I can still take you."

"I wouldn't count on it!" Crimson declared. She held her blade against Ebony's dagger, her power seemed to be increasing exponentially. "I hope you know that while I'm pleasing my Goddess tonight, I'll be thinking of you the entire time."

"Funny, that's what I was going to tell you," Ebony said. Ebony's orb expanded from her quickly and the darkness swallowed both of them and the workers in the building on the upper level, prompting screams as Crimson stepped back in confusion and swung around herself lightly. "This is my power Crimson. I am the darkness. We are one. You can't hope to defeat me now, but I'm a reasonable woman. Give up now and I'll let you live." Crimson spun and met Ebony's daggers as she appeared from the shadows. "How!? You and that Neela girl both!"

"I haven't had the pleasure of reading her full report, but I can smell your blood second before you're about to strike," Crimson explained. Something unexpected grappled Crimson from the darkness as she strained against it, it gripped tightly to her wrist, trying to wrench her katana away, a flurry of cuts tearing Crimson apart. Crimson stumbled back for a moment before she felt a hand reach out through the darkness and pull her out along with Ebony who screeched. Athena had Crimson by the arm and Ebony by the tail, the girl thrashing.

"What did I ask the two of you before I left?" She asked. "I asked if you could work together long enough to finish restoring the temple. Was my question unclear, or is it that you just don't care? It doesn't matter to me if both of you fight with each other until you're both blue in the face, but I don't want the two of you killing each other."

"I wasn't going to kill her Mistress," Ebony said trying to defend herself.

"Of course not, that's why you were using your most powerful attack and your tail. If Crimson hadn't cut you before you tried that you easily could have dispatched her," Athena told Ebony. She released Crimson and removed Wilt from Blush. "If you two would like to continue I can even the odds and remove your tail now."

"That's not necessary!" Ebony yelled in a panic. "I'd prefer that I keep it, I'm quite attached!" Athena dropped Ebony on her face and pointed at Crimson.

"That goes for you as well," Athena told her. "I don't want either of you dead before we complete our plan." Athena left and the two women scowled at each other as several of the others peered down from the second floor.

"Get to work!" Ebony yelled at them.

* * *

"I was hoping that we'd get a moment alone with Eliana later in the day," Coco told Neela.

"I know Coco," Neela replied. Coco and Neela had been worried for the past few days, Eliana was a shell of her former self, it was as if she'd had a revelation, and that revelation had torn her apart and put her back together in a different order altogether. Eliana had accepted that her father had been killed and had been killed by Grimm at that, many years ago and they had no reason to believe any differently. So what was going on? Was Eliana not telling them something? Neela had been trying to pull her aside to talk to her, but for the first time in their lives, Eliana was actively avoiding her.

Eliana walked by, looking distracted and Neela grabbed her, pulling her into the classroom and locking the door behind.

"Eliana," Neela said sternly.

"What?" Eliana asked. "What? What?! Neela, what do you want?!" Neela looked at Eliana confused as Coco showed Eliana to a seat.

"Eliana, we just want to help," Neela said. Eliana sighed and shrugged.

"I was under a lot of stress, I snapped," Eliana said. "Is there anything else that I need to say?"

"Clearly something is bothering you," Coco told her. Eliana looked at her hands, her eyes welled up and she looked hard at Neela.

"Neela, if Coco wouldn't have stopped me, I would have killed Paris!" Eliana yelled. "I can't be trusted with a weapon."

"Eliana, stress in battle is normal, sometimes it makes us do things that we normally wouldn't do," Coco said. She looked at Eliana, standing in front of her. "Things that we shouldn't do." Eliana looked at her hands.

"I just keep replaying the scene in my head of standing over him, aiming the gun at his head and wanting to pull the trigger," Eliana said. "Why? How could I stoop so low, once those thoughts went through my mind I thought that I was just as awful as all of the criminals that my dad put away!"

"What did Paris say that set you off?" Neela asked.

"He said that all I talk about is my father. You saw his face. You heard what he said before he was shot," Eliana said.

"I think he was just trying to get you all fired up," Coco said. "I've seen the file. We care about you Eliana, there was nothing else to your father's death, he was killed by Grimm." Eliana sighed.

"I know, I just lost it," Eliana said. "It sounded like he knew something and I…" Neela wrapped her arms around Eliana and drew her in.

"If it happens again, just think about me, your mom, or your dad," Neela told Eliana. "I shouldn't have put you through that kind of stress. We should have just let the teachers handle it."

"Neela… I…" Eliana tried to say but Neela pulled her in tighter.

"When I get stressed Elli, I think of you," Neela said. Eliana's eyes grew wide as her breathing steadied. She stared off across the room as the words resonated. "You're the anchor that brings me back to reality. If I can be that for you, I'd be more than happy to be your anchor. If not me, then your mother or father. I just want the old Eliana back. I can't even guarantee that I wouldn't have reacted in the same way."

"I'm sorry Neela!" Eliana cried out. Neela rubbed her back. "I ruined your plan!"

"You did fine Eliana," Neela told her. Eliana cried hard and Neela looked up at Coco who nodded at her.

"You both did a great job," Coco told them. "And Neela's right Eliana. I use Velvet and Lamar as my anchors when I get nervous in battle." Coco smiled at them and headed for the door. "Take as much time as you need, I'll be heading out to my next class now."

* * *

Cobalt slowly rode into the town on his horse, stopping as he reached the outskirts and reading the sign that was crudely painted, welcoming travelers, or more accurately, warning them to stay away. Salem's Bend was a growing epicenter for commerce and trade for Vacuo, but mostly the drifters and vagabonds came here for the saloons and gambling. He smirked as he spurred his horse, continuing on towards the town as he pulled his Stetson down to further block the sun from his eyes. He rode down the dirt road through a winding gorge between two bluffs, spotting the town as he exited on the other side.

The information that had been passed on to him was accurate, the town was bustling despite its location being inconvenient, there were no fresh water sources nearby to speak of, yet there seemed to be more people than he had originally expected. He scanned the buildings as Salem's Bend came into view, a clocktower sat at the end of the main street, notifying him that it was roughly 11 AM, the trip from Valewater had taken him nearly four hours and he had made minimal stops, staying his horse only once as he spotted a group of bandits on the horizon, but luckily he hadn't been noticed. There was a water tower on the far outskirts, a mercantile on his left, and a saloon with an inn above it on the right. He figured that to be his best bet for collecting information to complete the purpose of his trek and rode the horse up to the hitching post, securing him and entering the establishment.

The doors swung open and no one paid him any mind as a glass smashed against the wall beside him and he made his way to the counter. A woman danced on the stage in a large showy dress and several men whistled from their seats, catcalling.

"Show us a little more sweetie," one of them called out. She walked to the edge of the stage and placed the tip of her boot on his chest.

"You know that costs extra," She told him. "Maybe tonight once I'm done with my last shift?" She winked at him and covered her face with a folding fan.

"You're such a tease Bái!" Another called out. Cobalt met her eyes for a moment before proceeding past a table that was playing poker and sitting at the bar.

"What will it be?" The bartender asked as he cleaned one of the glass mugs.

"Anything on tap is fine," Cobalt replied. The man nodded and filled the mug sliding it down to him. "Seeing as you're the bartender, this must be your saloon. You're Vincent?" He nodded.

"Most people 'round here call me Vince, but I can tell that you're not exactly from around here, are you?" Vince asked. Cobalt shook his head as he slammed the beer down.

"You're right. Pretty perceptive man, aren't you? They sent me here from the east, Valewater is looking to ensure its own safety in assisting Salem's Bend with its biggest problem," Cobalt explained.

"You don't mean…" Vince began.

"I do. Taking down the top outlaw in all of Remnant, along with the rest of her gang," Cobalt said. The doors crashed open and Rowan stood in them, smirking with a toothpick between his teeth. He moved to the right, Ilia entering after him and taking up her place on the left as Tawney crashed through last, a cigar hanging out of her mouth and she dashed the ashes off on the edge of Rowan's hat. "Speak of the devil." Cobalt turned back around and tended to his drink as she stepped in and cleared her throat loudly, grabbing the attention of everyone and silencing the chaos.

"Maniac Tawney and her Hellions are back, and we don't think we remembered to collect our taxes last time that we blew through this joint. Maybe it's because I'm in a good mood today, or maybe it's because I heard a rumor that Valewater sent their best man here to snuff me out, but in either case, I'm going to give y'all an offer you can't refuse," she said. She grabbed up the nearest man by his collar. "Mostly because if you do I'll riddle this entire saloon with bullets." She threw him back down, breaking the table and the other patrons sitting with him scrambled out of the way. "Twenty lien from each of you!"

"You collected last time!" Someone called out before covering their mouth. Tawney snapped and Rowan grabbed him, dragging him to the door.

"Did I?" She asked. He shook his head wildly for a moment until Ilia placed a bullet in his head and Rowan threw him to the ground. "I'm sorry, maybe I was unclear before, but now I'm going to make it thirty lien. Anyone who doesn't pay is going to end up like this poor bastard." None of the rest of them wasted time and quickly stuck their money into the sack as they exited, Cobalt leaving last and trying to short change her. She grabbed his arm and wrenched him back in. "You smell like new clothes and I ain't ever seen you 'round here before. Thirty is thirty."

"How about you allow me to challenge you to a duel instead," Cobalt asked.

"Ha!" Rowan chortled. "Is this man suicidal? Ain't nobody ever won against Maniac Tawney before!" Cobalt grinned and tipped his hat.

"I reckon there's a first time for everything," Cobalt replied. Tawney let out an over exaggerated laugh and took a drag from her cigar.

"Tomorrow then. High noon. If you don't meet me in the middle of this washed-up shanty town, then I'm going to turn it into a washed-up  _ghost_  town," Tawney said. She left followed by Rowan who scoffed, Ilia taking up the rear and nodding to Cobalt. Vince ran over to him and grabbed his arm.

"Were you born yesterday partner?" Vince asked.

"Why do you say that?" Cobalt asked.

"Maniac Tawney ain't never fought fair once," Vince informed him. Bái stood beside them and watched the patrons scatter as Tawney chased some of them, laughing as they tripped over themselves in fear.

"There goes my business for the evening," Bái said dejected as she looked Cobalt over. "Unless you're planning on sticking around for your funeral tomorrow." Cobalt tipped his hat.

"I suppose I might be back tonight," Cobalt told her. "Save me a room, would you?" She fanned herself and headed back inside with Vince behind. Cobalt continued down the street, leaving his horse back at Vincent's saloon and made his way past the land office to the sheriff's office. He stepped into the small wooden building, it was complete with one wooden desk and chair, keys hanging beside the door, three cells on the opposite side of the room, all but one empty.

"You let me out of here and mayhaps I'll tell you how to defeat Maniac Tawney," the prisoner called out.

"Pay no mind to him," Eliana said laying back in the chair with her feet up on the desk. "Orion here thinks that I might let him out early for good behavior, but after he and the other Hellions attempted to taint the water supply, I haven't taken to kindly to the idea of releasing him soon." She brought her feet down and extended her hand for him to shake. "Eliana Latherus. Sheriff. Sharpest shooter in the west.

"Why haven't you taken down Maniac Tawney yet?" Cobalt asked.

"Sharpest shot. I never said quickest. I reckon you came by to ask for my help with a situation involving the woman. Ain't got no help left to give after Grimm killed my pa. I've always fought for myself and these people and I don't think that challenging Tawney is in the town's best interest.," Eliana explained. "Now you can handle it, or take yourself back to wherever you might have come from and forget that it ever happened."

"It might be your problem," Cobalt said.

"How do you figure?" Eliana asked.

"She said that if I'm unable to best her, she'll destroy this town," Cobalt said. Eliana walked around the table and slammed him against one of the cells.

"What's the matter with you?!" Eliana asked. "Finally we had gotten used to having ourselves a little bit of peace and quiet and then fools like you have to try and be the hero! Y'all only ever make things worse! In what way did you think that any of this was going to help? Maniac Tawney is known throughout the land for being ruthless, that's why we give her however much she wants, and she treats us personably."

"She killed a man at the saloon," Cobalt told her. Eliana let go of him.

"He probably talked back to her, right?" Eliana asked. "Served him right if he did."

"So you'll help?" Cobalt asked.

"You deaf son?" She asked. "You can probably fix this whole misunderstanding by finding her outside of town by sundown, and paying her whatever you tried to withhold from her earlier." Cobalt shook his head, clenching his fist.

"Sheriff Glynda and Deputy Blake from Beaconridge worked with Valewater to send me this far and stop Maniac Tawney from hurting anyone else," Cobalt explained. "Wouldn't you rather be remembered as the sheriff that helped stop Tawney, rather than the one that allowed herself to be walked all over?" Eliana glanced at Orion and dragged Cobalt outside, taking him around the back of the building and undoing the top few buttons of her shirt, removing a note and handing it to Cobalt.

"My hands are tied, Maniac Tawney listens from everywhere," Eliana explained. "Follow this map and it will take you to someone who can help, but it will take some persuading." Cobalt nodded and pocketed the note as she kneed him in the stomach for show and threw him out into the street. "Now go home before I have no other choice but to lock you up!"

"Alright, alright," Cobalt replied as he brushed the dirt off of him and moved to his horse. He mounted his steed and rode out to the south, leaving the town behind him as he rode along the path for almost an hour before heading directly East and continuing to a small watering hole that seemed to be surrounded by crude huts and teepees. He was jumped as he crossed a ridge, something hard hit the back of his head and he fell off of his horse and into the sand before remembering being dragged for quite some time.

"He's waking up," a voice said. He blinked his eyes a few times, struggling to see in the dark hut before it all came in to view. He was tied to a wooden rod that ran horizontally above him and he glanced up at his hands before nothing a man wearing a Beowulf pelt with two women who wore the same, leather garbs covered their more sensitive areas. The two women trained their bows, the one to his left had captivating eyes while the one on his right had large bird wings. The man stepped forward.

"I am the chief of the Faunus Tribe, Lykos," the man spoke. Cobalt stared at the floor for a moment before looking back up at Lykos.

"You're a Faunus?" Cobalt asked.

"This is a dream. You could have imagined me as a woman for what it's worth," Lykos replied. Cobalt nodded.

"True," he replied. "I have sought you out in need of your strength, wisdom, and best warriors. If the Faunus Tribe joins me, we can put an end to Maniac Tawney once and for all and I'm certain that you would be able to work out a deal with the land office as well."

"We do not deal with the humans," Lykos told him. "They have only ever brought us pain."

"I'll go," Neela said lowering her bow. "Plus the sheriff sounds like quite the sight to behold." They all looked at her for a moment.

"I never said anything about the sheriff," Cobalt told her. She chuckled nervously.

"I'll go as well to watch over Neela," Ivory said. Lykos shook his head as he walked away.

"I will not let you leave without giving you my blessing, but both of you are quite foolish for thinking that you might be able to change the humans' opinions of you by simply saving them," Lykos informed them. "May the Maidens guide you and all that."

"I feel like this dream is slowly breaking down for the worst," Neela said as they mounted their horses and rode back towards the town as the sun was rising in the east.

"What makes you think that?" Ivory asked as Cobalt paid no attention to them.

"That Migoi Grimm from the Team CBLT Winter Break chapter is chasing after us and we're no longer in the desert," Neela said. Cobalt watched as the scene changed around him, he was still riding on horseback, but Tawney now clung to him for dear life as he darted through the snowy woods, the Migoi close behind them.

"I thought that this thing wasn't real!" Tawney shouted. Cobalt narrowly escaped it as it swung down at them again and he fired another shot back at it.

"Well it is, and now we need to take it down!" He replied. "Where are Lykos and Bái?"

"Didn't you leave them back in that western sequence?" Tawney asked.

"Oh yeah, I did," Cobalt replied. He leapt off of the horse and it continued running.

"Cobalt!" Tawney called out.

"Once I defeat this I'll come find you and we can play this out the way it should have ended the first time!" Cobalt shouted as he blocked the beast and pulled his blade all the way through it. It collapsed, dissipating as Cobalt posed and smirked. "Like a badass."

"Cobalt, you have got to stop talking in your sleep," Lykos told him from his desk in the dorm, effectively waking Cobalt up. Cobalt glanced around the room and groaned as he stretched, throwing the covers off of him to find Neela and Eliana lying beside him.

"Wait a minute… What kind of inception nonsense is this?" Cobalt asked.

"Beats me," said another Cobalt now sitting in Lykos's place.

"Come back to sleep senpai," said another Cobalt that had replaced the girls hanging off of him. He scrambled out of bed and ran to the window, throwing it open.

"Nope," he stated as he leapt out.

* * *

"Cobalt, you have got to-" Lykos began to tell him from his desk before Cobalt woke in a flurry and threw everything off of the bed as he left it. It was empty and he let out a sigh of relief as he glanced about the room.

"Nice boxers sensei," Tawney told him eating her cereal on her bed and watching him. He glanced down to notice that they were covered in anime swords and he groggily moved to the bathroom.

"He does talk in his sleep a lot, doesn't he?" Bái asked. Lykos nodded his head.

"It's going to be a glorious day when we all decide to act like polar opposites just to freak the hell out of him," Tawney said. "He wouldn't know what was real and what wasn't, which isn't that much different  _now_  for him, to be honest. His brain would be in a state of mass chaos."

"How do you propose that?" Lykos asked.

"I'll save it for another time," Tawney told him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Week and another Cobalt Fantasy! Next Week, Paris gets put in his place, and Olesia goes on a date?! Chapter 55 - Strange Bedfellows!
> 
> A big thank you to Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	59. Strange Bedfellows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The villains meet and the council meets, but does either really have an upper hand?

"Wake up!" Jett yelled as she slapped Paris again and grabbed him by the chin, looking him over to make sure that he'd come to enough to understand his predicament. "It is by the grace of Salem and the fear that I would have incurred the wrath of Abigor that I shot you in the knee and not the head. Your aura will be able to heal it in due time, but next time I can guarantee that you will not be as lucky. I've spoken with Abigor and he is in full agreement, isn't that right Master?" Paris was sat at a large table in a dark cave that was crudely lit by lanterns. He'd been here before, it was their place for emergency meetings in Vacuo, he'd been placed where Vale would normally sit, Admon to his left in Atlas's seat, Strakh to his right in Vacuo's seat, and Abigor across from him in Mistral's.

It was the first time any of them had 'seen' Abigor despite the lack of lighting, he seemed to be a looming and brooding man, the darkness shrouding his face but if one strained, they could make out half of a plague doctor's mask with a single goggle lens still attached on the left side of his only sound that filled the room was Abigor's breathing and that alone brought Paris unrest as he struggled against the ropes that bound him to the chair he was in. Strakh shifted, trying to avoid Abigor's gaze, but jumped when the man finally made a move and slammed his fist down on the table.

"Who here remembers why this all began?" Abigor asked, his voice thundering. "Do any of you even remember why you are here?" Abigor sat back, darkening all of his face. "Jett is the only one who has done exactly as I have asked without questioning me why or deviating from the cause." Silence as Admon rapped his fingers. "Am I a means to ends for some of you? Are we not all here to bring back this world's true savior?"

"Yes we are Abigor, but…" Paris spoke but stopped as he felt one of Jett's kukris at his neck.

"But?!" Abigor shouted. "You make me sick. Paris, you have come here for revenge. Strakh, you have come here for power. Admon, you have come here to put an end to a child. Personal gain!" Abigor stood. "It is because Salem needs us all to work together that you all have lived so long, but once I've gotten what I need from the three of you, there will be no compassion left within me. I will pass down Salem's judgment on you swiftly unless you begin to prove to me that the work you do is for Salem."

"I am at a standstill sir, I must wait until the current event comes to pass before I may speak with Her again," Strakh said trying to defend himself.

"Is that why Jett had to wait several hours for you to finish playing with your whores?" Abigor asked. "Mercury was the only one of you four who did exactly as was asked, but Mercury is also the only other person beneath me that has seen the full power of Salem." Abigor sat. "Our plans must change. Everything must shift. We must stay vigilant, I fear that the Council will soon know our full intentions, they meet tomorrow in Shade and invite Coco Adel into their walls to tell them about all of the facts that Paris handed over to them while taunting the Latherus girl! Is your target not the hybrid?!"

"Y- Yes," Paris stuttered.

"Then why must you deviate from the path?" Abigor shouted. The cave walls shook, Admon glanced around before raising his hand. Jett shot him a stern look.

"What is it?" Jett asked.

"As long as I have my foothold in the Atlas army…" Admon began.

"Do you?" Abigor asked. "Your sister has been captured and your plan to kill the Schnee and the head of Atlas has failed."

"Ironwood is nothing to be worried about, the man is lethargic in his old age," Admon told them. "If I am only given more time and resources, the Atlas army will fall under my command and I will be able to produce a war so large that even Vale will erect a military force to put an end to it."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Abigor told him. "Atlas moves now as we speak. I think you may find by the end of the week that Ironwood is no longer in the picture and that Winter's first order of business will be finding you and tearing you limb from limb. People thought that Ironwood had questionable tactics, that woman will put him to shame."

"Vacuo is the most secure of the kingdoms, I can afford my luxuries…" Strakh said defending himself.

"How secure? What about the girl that escaped?" Abigor asked. "She knows more than you care to admit and your men have failed time and time again to apprehend her."

"I can't just attack Beacon," Strakh protested.

"Why wasn't she stopped prior to reaching Vale?" Abigor asked. He sat and seethed for a long moment before Jett approached him and whispered something in his ear. He whispered back his reply and she nodded, heading for the cave's exit. "I have new plans for all of you and if I do not feel that they are being kept as well as they can, I will send Jett out to personally thank you for serving Salem with a bullet through the forehead, is that clear?"

"Yes," Paris replied audibly.

"Admon, you are to break your ties with the Fang now and take whatever remaining troops you have and march for Menagerie," Abigor told him. "If nothing else it'll stir up more unrest between Faunus and humans, and might be the tipping point that turns the island into a point of massacre. Strakh, I want the girl caught by the end of this year. If you fail to do so, I will leak all of the information gathered on you before she can and you'll fall at the hands of that pathetic Olesia. Paris, you will return to Vale but you will not lead them. I will allow Merc's gang to thin themselves out and once they choose someone new to take up the mantle, point them towards me. If Mercury escapes and returns before they can do so, more power to him."

"What of Mistral?" Strakh asked. "Sterling sends more and more of his military to Vacuo and Vale every day. The Fang won't pose much of a distraction if they're discovered before Athena gets the stick out of her ass and attacks."

"Mistral will have to be dealt with by the three of you for now. I've been able to siphon away men and goods for several months, but Sterling is getting suspicious and we can't have him discovering our plans yet, now can we?" They all shook their heads.

"Meeting is adjourned," Jett said. The men all left, blinking hard as they entered the desert and the sun blinded them. Paris glanced back once more, hoping to make more of Abigor out, but was denied the satisfaction. Jett was left with Abigor, watching them all leave before returning to him.

"Is there still hope that Salem might be brought back?" She asked. Abigor chuckled.

"Of course," he replied. "My Queen shall be returned to her former state and save all of us. If we fail, Remnant will perish as she has."

* * *

"I know that I'm always going on and on about something during every meeting that we have, but I think I finally have it figured out. We should hold every meeting here in Vacuo. It's always warm no matter what time of the year it is, not like Vale or Atlas. I mean, sure it gets a little warmer during the summer months, but if we move the meeting location towards the northern end of the kingdom, I think that we can come to a compromise. Just think, this morning I kissed my wife, we had breakfast, and then I came to work. I'll be home tonight, isn't it glorious? I say this every time, but all of this could just be done over video conference or email or something similar, but then we wouldn't get to hear Sterling and Siobhan complain about how hot it is, or how they had layovers in Vale. Not to mention I'm quite excited today, we've really started making headway on the Strakh issue!" Dorian told Olesia as they took their seats.

"With the help of Mistral's military," Olesia reminded him as she took a few pages from him. He scoffed.

"Details," he sputtered. Olesia kept her eyes on Sterling the entire time as he entered the room with Siobhan so close behind him she was practically on his ass. He shook Coco's hands, sharing a few words with her and both of them laughed as the Mistralis moved along to take their seats, Sterling mouthing 'Hello' to Olesia who blushed as she normally did until catching Siobhan's gaze. A death stare that seemed as ice cold as the woman's personality and Dorian chuckled.

"Hopefully Siobhan's semblance isn't 'looks that can kill'," Dorian offered. Ruby and Qrow were the next two to enter the room, Ruby hugging Coco and smiling before taking her seat with her uncle and the doors closed as Ironwood entered, Winter and another younger woman following. She wore standard Atlas Military Officer attire and had a fox tail that was long and swished about back and forth happily. The girl seemed ecstatic, but Olesia also picked up a hint of nervousness in the girl's eyes. Atlas was planning changes, Olesia had seen what happened on the news, everyone had.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" Ruby called out as always. "Let's not waste any time today, we have a lot to cover and figure out. Let's get this underway and let Coco give her report so we can determine where to go from there." Ruby sat and Coco took center stage, clearing her throat and glancing over her file.

"I hate to interrupt, but it's a bit unprecedented to let a non-council member in on a meeting," Dorian stated. Coco smirked before turning to him.

"You talk like you've got some sort of grudge. Have we met before? I used to party a lot when I was younger, did I hit you in the balls? You sound like you might have deserved it…" Coco said.

"Coco," Ruby said sternly. Coco glanced back at her friend and nodded.

"Sorry," Coco replied.

"Don't be, he was out of line," Siobhan said. Sterling elbowed her and cleared his throat. "My apologies for speaking out of line, Ruby." Qrow rolled his eyes and Ruby waved her off.

"Coco, please continue," Ruby told her.

"Let me preface this entire meeting by saying that while I am very proud of the students at Beacon coming together and discovering what we couldn't. That being said, they will be punished accordingly for hacking into the Council's Security Database," Coco said. The announcement was met with egregious argument, and uproar from all sides as Ruby stood and tried to quiet them.

"Stop! Quiet!" Ruby yelled.

"Why weren't we told sooner?" Olesia demanded. Ironwood simply gave Qrow a cross look who stood and shouted out above the noise.

"Shut the hell up!" Qrow yelled out. They all looked at him.

"A child hacked into our files!" Dorian yelled. "And you waited a week…"

"The breach wasn't severe, I have the information that was stolen in hand. At first, I wanted the kids to destroy it, but had them hand it over instead," Coco said. "The firewall is being patched and reinforced by the SDC research department as we speak."

"Was any other information leaked?" Siobhan asked.

"No. I've had the system triple checked, I can have the SDC check again if you'd like," Coco told them. She presented the file first to Olesia so that they could pass it down the table. "You'll see there that the commerce records for Vale were stolen by the students and the highlighted dates are the dates that robberies were made by the Stardust Gang. See anything that's the same between them?"

"Mistral," Olesia said glancing across at Sterling. He stood slowly.

"What?" Sterling said. He looked down at Siobhan.

"Are you in charge of commerce along the western coast of Mistral Mr. Stratford?" Coco asked.

"Not directly," Sterling said in disbelief.

"Sir, a relatively large amount of men from your military have gone AWOL in the last several months. In addition to the EMP that the Stardust Gang is in possession of, I'm thinking that maybe you need to get things together over there," Coco said. "Maybe I'm out of line to say this, but as Ruby's head of intelligence in Vale, I'm getting really tired of cleaning up your shit." Sterling nodded.

"I will place Siobhan in direct command of military operations, it will not happen again Mrs. Adel," Sterling informed her.

"Thank you." She replied. "With the Stardust Gang this time it was Mercury, who was caught by Neela Xiao Long, a first-year student at Beacon. Orion Nova and Sirius Canis are still at large, as well as a former student of Beacon who has an unknown origin, a Mr. Paris Goldfinch. Lastly, there was a masked woman, the same that had shown up for the EMP handoff, that got away."

"Were the police not involved?" Dorian asked.

"It is in our experience that the police are more at risk when dealing with criminals that have semblances and auras. We are currently working on getting a few huntsmen from our kingdom to join the police force as well as starting a security staff at the school," Coco informed them. "This is the first time that Mercury has been caught, this is a huge breakthrough. We haven't been able to interrogate him properly yet. Even if he doesn't give us any information, this should set them back from whatever they were planning with that EMP."

"Anything else that we should know?" Ruby asked.

"I think that's it," Coco said. "Though one thing bothers me that I might add if I may."

"What would that be?" Qrow asked. Coco pointed to Olesia.

"When that Dust shipment came in a few days ago, there were Strakh Dust crates. An entire two ships I believe. If you're going to stop this guy, Olesia, you need to make sure that he can't export," Coco instructed her.

"Tell your people to embargo them," Olesia replied. Coco chuckled.

"There is a shortage. Even if I told them that, they wouldn't listen," Coco told her. She stared the girl in the eyes. "Fix it."

"Ruby…" Dorian said slowly standing. Coco offered him a smile and headed for the exit as Ruby motioned for him to sit.

"I think that this is the perfect segway into Atlas, wouldn't you agree, Ironwood?" Ruby asked. Ironwood nodded as he stood and straightened his tie.

"After all of my years of service both on this council and in the Atlas Military, it is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement," Ironwood said. He coughed and regained his composure as he cleared his throat. "I leave both positions that I hold in the capable hands of Winter Branwen, she's been at my side for many, many years now, and I know that she'll do just as well as I did." Ironwood sat and the room was swallowed in silence. There were no claps or congratulations, the council digested the information, it was the first time that someone had willingly given up a position on the council since its conception.

"You did good, Jimmy," Qrow said. Ironwood scowled and smirked, nodding to Qrow. Winter stood and moved to the front of the table with the fox behind her, following closely and staring at the floor the entire time.

"I would like to assign Lieutenant General Kitsune Aka of the Atlas Military as my second starting with our next meeting," Winter informed them. "Even though she's only been with Atlas for a few months she has shown instant promise and even assisted Lieutenant General Prasinos in keeping Weiss Schnee alive during the White Fang attack at the ball."

"Were the funds saved?" Sterling asked.

"They were. It'll keep the lights on for now, but if we aren't able to mine Dust again soon, we're going to have issues everywhere. Half of the plants were there from the time that we did our mass hiring of Faunus, the other half were men that Admon had brought with him. Admon's last spies were wiped out when we double checked the system following the attack," Winter explained. "Things remain at a standstill as well in Menagerie, but tensions continue to grow, especially since the primary assassin that was after Weiss was an island native."

"It appears that Atlas needs to get their military in check as well," Siobhan offered offhandedly. Sterling grabbed her arm.

"Do you know how to hold your tongue?" He asked her. "You've been valuable as a second for years, but your off-handed comments as of late are inappropriate. Bringing you with me is not a necessity, nowhere is it written that you need to attend the meetings if I'm here as well." He let her go and recomposed himself and looked up at Ruby. "I apologize for the both of us." Olesia was impressed by Sterling decorum over the last couple of meetings but was still pissed off that she didn't have the first clue about how to stop Strakh.

"I think we covered the two that needed to be addressed the worst, but let's recap what needs to happen by the next meeting if we can," Ruby said. "Coco will establish a police force that uses both standard officers and huntsmen. Atlas either needs to find Athena and end the tension between the Faunus and SDC, or they need to work on finding new locations for Dust mines. Admon is also a top priority. I approve Siobhan being placed in charge of the Mistral Military and I trust that she will straighten things out as swiftly and cleanly as possible. Lastly is Vacuo…"

"Olesia, are you okay?" Dorian asked. She was in need of water and the room was spinning, but the idea that all of her progress had been brought to a standstill was weighing heavily on her.

"Olesia," Ruby said. "If you don't make progress by the next meeting, it's possible that we may look for other leadership options in your kingdom. It's not a path that I want to think about, you've done great so far and have a lot of potentials, but we can't have someone like Strakh running around unchecked. Dismissed!" The members all stood and began to leave, Dorian gathering his things and walking past Olesia before realizing she hadn't moved.

"Ma'am?" Dorian asked. She waved him off.

"They'll make me leave in a moment anyway," she groaned. She sighed, running her hands through her hair and staring into the darkness that she'd created between her folded arms on the table. Someone touched her gently on the shoulder and she looked up expecting to see Dorian but instead found Sterling. She'd never been so close to Sterling before, he looked younger up close, though she imagined his looking old was an illusion of the silver hair that he had. Her eyes stared into his for a long moment before she broke free of his gaze.

"Are you alright Olesia?" Sterling asked as he crouched in front of the table so that he was eye level with her. "I'm sorry, how inappropriate of me. Ms. Lychnitis?" She chuckled and slowly stood, moving around the table and sitting on the edge of it, forcing him to stand.

"Olesia is fine," She told him. "I'll be okay, I just don't understand how Stakh keeps avoiding me every step of the way, even with your help." He smirked and shook his head.

"And I don't understand how my military is running amuck under my nose," Sterling told her. "We're in the same boat." He glanced at her. "Is there anything more I can do to help you with Strakh?" Olesia shook her head and collected her things as she moved for the doors.

"You've done enough already Sterling and I thank you for it, but I'd hate to keep you from the issues that your kingdom is dealing with," she told him as he followed her.

"I trust Siobhan can handle it, and if she can't, I'll take care of it myself," Sterling told her. The man exuded confidence, he had no shortage of it, and she wished she could just reach out and use it. Borrow some. Fix her kingdom and give it back. She had so many projects that she wanted to work on, ideas to run by the SDC that could make her kingdom more viable, more livable for all. All of that was put on hold by that bastard crime lord that ran her streets better than she did.

"I'm sure that you're right, but it's not that I don't trust Dorian to handle it, I just think that Strakh's too much for any one man to handle," she told him as they passed through security.

"Or woman," Sterling said. She glanced at him as he smiled at her. Her eyes glossed over for a moment as she thought about what he said and lit up as she was hit with an epiphany.

"That's it!" She exclaimed. "Yes!" She grabbed him and pulled him down kissing him on the cheek. "Yes! Thank yo-" Her excitement faded and she took a step back as he glanced away. "I… I'm sorry. Oh Oum, how embarrassing. I got carried away Sterling, I didn't mean anything by it." He chuckled.

"It's quite alright," he told her. She began to walk away and he called after her. "Olesia!" She stopped and looked back, still ashamed about what she'd just done.

"Yes, Sterling?" She asked.

"I've been meaning to ask you for a while now if you're single," he said looking away. Her head tilted slightly and her brain stopped processing everything for a long moment. Did he just ask her if she was single? Had Sterling Stratford, one of the most powerful men in all of Remnant, just asked Olesia Lychnitis, just some girl struggling to lead the Kingdom of Vacuo, if she was single? She blushed hard and walked back to him slowly.

"I'm sorry, did you just ask me…" She stuttered. He looked into her eyes and she was drowning, the man had gone from rugged asshole to… well, just plain rugged in about six months. Maybe she'd misunderstood him at first, maybe she saw him that way to begin with because Dorian wanted her to.

"Was it too forward?" He asked.

"No! No! No, I just thought that you and Siobhan were a thing," Olesia said defensively.

"I don't think the council would approve of such things," Sterling said. "Are you saying yes then?"

"Yes to what?" She asked coyly.

"Dinner tonight. Somewhere expensive in Vacuo?" He replied.

"I don't think the council would approve of such things," she fired back. He leaned in towards her.

"I'm sure it's fine, Winter and Qrow are married," Sterling told her. She pointed at him and gave a nod.

"You're right," she said.

"Pick you up?" He asked.

"How will you find the place?" She asked.

"I'll ask around," he replied. She cupped her mouth.

"I'm pretty secretive," she whispered.

"I'll ask Dorian," he fired back. She laughed.

"You'll end up in the middle of the ocean," she replied.

"I'll call you," he told her.

"Before the first date?" She asked with a scowl.

"I'll ask Ruby?" He inquired.

"I thought this was hush-hush," she reminded him.

"I'll use my semblance," he offered.

"What's that?" She pried.

"The ability to find attractive women within a kingdom," he joked.

"Sounds rapey," she laughed.

"You could just give me the address," he finished. She covered her mouth and batted her lashes as they laughed.

"I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

Sterling laughed as he sipped on his champagne and dabbed his mouth with his napkin, Olesia sitting across from him in the restaurant and covering her mouth as she giggled. It was girly and she was independent more often than not, but she was hard-pressed to say that she wasn't enjoying his company.

"What happened next?" She asked.

"It was an absolute mess. Not only were the four of us inexperienced, without the slightest clue what we were doing, but our leader had been trapped in a cave by a pack of Creeps with no way out. I started handing out commands but my men decided that running in head first and using brute force would be the better choice. They were wrong. I ended up scaring the creatures off after some time and dragging my men out and back to Haven without assistance," Sterling told her. "But less about me, what about you Olesia? My story only goes as far as climbing up from the quagmire of the desolate countryside of Mistral. Surely yours is one of more appeal and interest."

"Sadly it isn't. Dorian and I were both runaways that just ended up here after some time," Olesia told him. She took a sip of her wine and swirled the glass, her legs crossed as she looked her plate over once more and smiled at him. "I have to say that in comparison, you've done a much better on your assent. I can't even flush out a crime lord. That damn Strakh matches me at every turn, but I guess that my military force is more police than anything, and aren't quite the best equipped to deal with such things. I really appreciate the help that you've provided."

"And I'm glad that I was able to help," he said as he handed the bill back to the waiter with his credit card. "So you still haven't told me yet what your idea was this morning."

"Right!" she replied excitedly. "What if we've been going about catching him the wrong way? His reputation precedes him, he's known to have a rather large 'harem' of women at his side when he's in hiding. If we can train a few women to fight or we can find a huntress and use her as bait, he'll take them in for his collection and they can take him out and end all of this!" Sterling pointed at her and nodded.

"And Siobhan doubts you," Sterling said. "I don't think she would have come up with something like that." He smiled at her and she blushed, what was happening? She had always told herself that she didn't need a man, that she could make it on her own, that she needed to focus on the task at hand… but when he spoke to her all of that faded away. She was putty in his hands, she melted everytime that he smiled, anytime that he laughed at something that she said. A true man. "Don't be so hard on yourself, you're a talented, right, beautiful young woman." She waved him off.

"Don't flatter me," she chuckled.

"I mean it," he told her. He stood and took her hand, leading her out of the restaurant as she took his arm and followed him down one of the main streets, it was just starting to get dark, and with it a coolness to the arid desert.

"I'm not that much younger than you are," she said.

"We're both young, aren't we?" He asked with a smile. They both looked up at the stars as Sterling pointed certain ones out along with constellations. "They say that when our loved ones die they become stars to guide us home at night." Sterling pointed to one and Olesia craned her head to see it. "I'd like to think that the star there is my mother, guiding me home. It hangs directly above Haven no matter where I'm at." She looked at him as he stared in awe.

"How can you be so sure?" She asked. He smiled at her and continued on.

"I just know." He replied. He led her back to her house, dropping her off at the door. "I'm glad that I could share this evening with you." He began to walk away but something pressed her out after him a step or two.

"Wait!" He stopped and turned back with a glint in his eye. "Can we do this again sometime? It doesn't have to be a regular thing, I'm sure there are women you have back in Mistral that are far more worth your time."

"Whenever you'd like," he told her.

"Tomorrow?" She asked, her eyes filled with wonder. He chuckled lightly.

"As much as I'd enjoy that I need to be getting back to Mistral," he told her. "How does the next council meeting sound?" She nodded slowly.

"That sounds great…" She broke free and turned away blushing. "I mean, it sounds okay. Yeah, I mean, if neither of us are busy, I guess that might work out." He nodded at her.

"Good." He told her. He left her as she slipped inside and she felt a rush of anxiety leave her body.

"What am I doing?!" She yelled to herself pacing. "I'm supposed to avoid distractions! But I've never had more fun in my life! But it'll never work because Dorian won't approve! But screw Dorian, what do I care?! But what will the rest of the Council say?! What is happening to me!?" She was in ecstasy, but was conflicted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it seems Abigor is feeling confident in his plans but Olesia needs time to adjust to her new relationship. Next Week, Chapter 56 - Dread Deals and Adapting!
> 
> Our newest piece, Beacon Days by Carlomontie!  
> 
> 
> A big thank you to Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE. Carlomontie is our newest artist, go check it out!
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	60. Dread Deals and Adapting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neela and her parents celebrate her victory over Stardust, but do things ever go as planned?

Neela stared at the chalkboard as Nora droned on about Grimm, rushing from one side to the other and banging out image after image, the chalk clicking and scratching across the canvas as she explained this far too quickly for anyone to follow. Nora was absorbed in the material, with little to no time in between her rants to yell at students who were on their scrolls or just weren't paying attention, but she allowed the students to take a self-driven approach. If they failed, it was their own fault in her mind. Neela's mind danced around the idea that she'd been able to take down Mercury, and the usual fantasies of Eliana. She glanced down at her notebook, noting she'd written her best friend's name and bordered it with a heart instead of notes about Grimm.

Neela glanced at the clock, she only had a minute or two more of class before she'd be done for the day and would be able to get some of her homework done before she'd have to head off to work at the bookstore. It gave her very little time with Eliana, but she didn't have a choice and she needed the money. She stared back down at Nora once more who went on and on about a Grimm known as Nuckelavee and how she faced off against it in Kuroyuri, it was all old news. Her Aunt Ruby had told her the story at least a dozen times and as much as Neela enjoyed the tale, at this point, it was just keeping her from the bell.

The seconds dragged on for what seemed more like minutes, Neela's mind playing with the possible outcomes of the rest of her evening, some more entertaining than others albeit unrealistic. She rapped her pencil against the desk, looking at her things before sliding them off of the desk and into her bag, knowing full well that she wouldn't be taking any more notes at this point. Could the class last any longer? It was pointless, there was no reason to wait out the last few seconds, especially if Nora didn't care what they did to an extent. Neela slowly stood and sighed in relief as the bell went off behind her above the door.

"Did I talk for too long again?!" Nora asked. She shook her head with laughter. "You kids do the reading and I'll see you tomorrow!" Neela was out the door more quickly than any of her classmates and took off down the hallway towards her dorm. It didn't matter if it was a few seconds, the more time with Eliana, the better. She made it halfway to the door before someone snagged her and dragged her into one of the classrooms, closing the door behind her. Neela swung around wildly before her assailant grabbed her arm, giving her a rather large grin. It was Yang.

"Mom!" Neela blurted out. "What are you doing?!"

"I wanted to tell you something," Yang told her.

"So you snatch me out of the hall like some creeper?" Neela asked wrenching her arm free.

"Blake and Shadow are going to meet us in town, but we're taking you out to dinner!" Yang exclaimed. Neela flushed and looked away, sorry that she had gotten worked up.

"That's great and all mom, but I have work tonight," Neela explained.

"Blake already talked to Fox," Yang told her.

"What about Elli?" Neela asked. Yang groaned and shook Neela by the shoulders.

"One night away from her won't kill you," Yang said. "This last week has been hectic and we wanted to congratulate you for taking down Mercury!" Neela laughed and hugged her mom. Yang held the embrace for a long moment, taking comfort in her daughter. "Thank you, Neela."

"It was nothing," Neela replied. Yang shoved her back.

"Nothing?!" Yang asked. "You go tell that to Coco, she's been after him for years now. Taking down Mercury was nothing, you're something else, you know that? You must get it from me." Yang wrapped her arm around Neela's neck and messed up her hair. Yang opened the door and led her out into the hall.

"Can I get drinks?" She asked Yang.

"I say yes, but Blake might say differently," Yang told her.

* * *

The four of them took a table at the Crowbar, getting settled in as Neela's scroll continued to vibrate as she set it on the table and picked up her menu.

"Is everything okay, your scroll hasn't stopped going off since we left Beacon," Blake said. Neela laughed sheepishly as she checked it abruptly before placed it on the table once more.

"Yeah, it's just Elli," Neela said. Yang laughed.

"Maybe we should have brought her with," Yang said.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," Shadow complained.

"I know, just hold on a minute," Blake replied. Neela's scroll vibrated once again and she quickly silenced it, sighing as she brushed her hair back.

"Wants to make sure her lover is okay?" Yang asked. Neela and Blake shot her a look.

"Can you not refer to our daughter as someone's lover?" Blake asked. Neela nodded in agreement.

"Please?" Neela begged. Yang shrugged as the waitress came to take their orders, Neela's scroll lighting up in silent mode on the table and she glanced at it quick.

"Eliana?" Blake asked. She placed her order and Shadow's, watching as Neela read meticulously through the message. Neela nodded. "Do you want to call her and find out what's going on?" Neela chuckled.

"She just tells me everything that pops into her head. If I take a call, I don't think that I would be back until dinner was getting cold," Neela told them. Yang ordered followed by Neela and they all handed over their menus as the waitress left.

"Ugh! Mommy, I'm gonna be old before my nuggets get here!" Shadow groaned dramatically. Blake removed a paper from her purse, setting it on the table as she gave some crayons to Shadow who got to work, determined with her tongue sticking out as she concentrated.

"She's going through a coloring phase," Blake said.

"Are you gonna be a huntress like your big sister?" Yang asked. Shadow nodded without looking up from her work.

"I can make a copy of me!" Shadow exclaimed happily. Neela looked up at Blake who nodded.

"She can make clones? Shadow, that's awesome!" Neela told her.

"I'm going to grow up strong and fight monsters like you!" Shadow exclaimed. "I want a sword like Grandma Raven's!" Yang shifted and sighed.

"Not a chance," Yang muttered.

"Mommy Yang, where is Raven?" Shadow asked.

"Hopefully dead in a ditch somewhere," Yang offered. Blake's ears flattened as she shot Yang a death glare.

"Yang!" Blake stammered.

"She's safe, she's staying with Grandpa Tai," Yang replied. She leaned over to Neela. "Against my better judgment." Shadow hummed to herself as she scrawled on the page, bobbing her head. "Seriously, Neela, you're doing amazing so far this year!"

"It was nothing mom. May said something that got me thinking and we decided to take action," Neela said. Yang nudged Blake.

"Sounds like someone else I knew back at Beacon," Yang said.

"Things were different then," Blake said. Yang shook her head.

"She's always so worried," Yang said. Shadow looked up, sniffing the air and looking around the room.

"I smell Grandma Raven!" Shadow exclaimed. Yang's eyes flared red as she shuffled in her seat, moving to stand but Blake grabbed her arm, smelling the air silently and giving Neela a knowing look. Neela listened hard, removing her scroll to obscure the use of her semblance.

"Shadow honey, I don't smell Raven," Blake said. "Neela, do you smell anything?" Neela had spotted Raven, she was in a back room with two men that appeared to be wearing suits and she deactivated her power, looking up at Yang and Blake in a slight purposeful daze.

"Sorry, I was messaging Elli back, I didn't smell anything," Neela replied.

"Mommy, I know it is!" Shadow said whining.

"Blake…" Yang said trying to stand once more. Blake forced her to sit again before finding her feet.

"It's nothing Yang. How about I get you a strawberry sunrise to ease your nerves," Blake offered as she left the table. Yang took a deep breath as her eyes faded back to normal.

"She's right," Yang said with a smirk. "You probably just smelled some fish." Neela turned red and clamped her mouth shut, shaking her head.

"Why would Grandma Raven smell like fish?" Shadow asked. Neela leaped to her feet.

"I'm going to use the bathroom!" Neela exclaimed. Yang chuckled and nodded at her.

"Okay Neela," Yang said. "Hurry back!" Neela slipped away, heading down the side hallway beside the bar that led back towards the bathrooms, a door halfway down the hall that Neela assumed previously was a storage closet but it now appeared otherwise. She used her semblance again, the two men sat on one side of a small square card table, Raven opposite them with her mask lying before them. Neela pried the door open slowly and crept in, closing it behind her and staying close to the wall, peering around the corner that led into the room. Raven placed a large metal case on the counter and grinned, folding her arms as the men slid it closer and opened it up, viewing the contents.

"How do we know that this stuff is legit?" They asked. Raven grabbed up one of the vials and peered at the black liquid inside, rapping on the container with her finger before tossing it back at the one on the right. He fumbled with it for a moment before grasping it and gently placing it back in the briefcase.

"Would you care to test it out?" Raven asked. She leaned back, folding her arms and casting a side glance towards her sword. "I've never seen it in use, to be honest. Dread. Whoever came up with this must have been a psycho." She smirked. "I'm guessing that you two don't even know what it does."

"Made from Grimm's Bane. Supposed to give anyone dosed with it some pretty twisted nightmares," one of them stated. Raven nodded. Neela shifted back and kicked a bucket that was beside her that she hadn't taken notice of before and both of the men leaped to their feet, drawing their guns. "Who's there?! Is this a setup? You working with the cops now?"

"Please," Raven said without moving or showing signs of distress. "It's only my supplier." Raven glanced back out of the corner of her eye. "Neela was it?" Neela nodded and she slowly stood. "Come on. It's fine, they don't bite." Neela walked to the table, sitting beside Raven who looked her over. The men still trained their weapons on Neela.

"She looks kinda young for a supplier, and why is she so nervous?" The other asked. Raven stood and they both shook, aiming their guns clumsily between the two women. Raven leaned forward.

"Maybe it's because you two assholes are pointing guns at her. She's not a huntress, she's just some kid that sells me the product. I told her to stay out of it, but she was curious as to how you men were planning on using it," Raven told them. She grabbed them both by the collar and lifted them off of their feet. "Play nice, or I'll kill you both, take what I need, and keep the Dread." She threw them back into their seats before smiling softly at Neela and sitting. "Now you got what you wanted, where's my payment?"

"You're in the wrong business kid," one of the men told her. She noted what they were wearing as her nerves calmed. Suits. Red ties. Red glasses. "Or at least with the wrong woman." Raven slammed her fist and he jumped, his hands fumbling as he reached into his jacket and removed a flash drive, setting it on the table for Raven to look at. "Satisfied?"

"I want proof of the information," she told him. He smirked.

"And I want proof that the Dread is legitimate, but we can't always get what we want," he replied as he stood with his partner. Raven snarled as she stood, her rage boiling over.

"You two aren't leaving until I'm assured that what I'm looking for is on that drive!" Raven shouted. The man who spoke before leaned across the table.

"You made an agreement with our boss not to touch us, there's nothing you can do," he said. Raven smirked as she glanced over at Neela and nodded, motioning with her head towards the sword. Neela glanced towards it, both the men hesitating as they grabbed their guns.

"I never said that she wouldn't hurt you," Raven replied with a grin.

"You said she wasn't a huntress!" The other man shouted. Raven shrugged.

"I lied." Raven motioned with her head again. "Go ahead Neela, grab it. They won't dare shoot. It'll cause a scene and the police will be here in no time. You boys don't want that, do you? You're wanted by the cops and you said a few years ago that you were no longer in the area. I think they'd be interested to find out otherwise." The second man lowered his gun, throwing his bag onto the table and removing a laptop which he threw open and slid over to Raven as Neela retrieved the sword.

"Put it down!" The first man yelled at her.

"I think I'll wait and see if you two followed through with your payment before I do that," Neela said. The man turned to Raven, pointing his gun at her as she rolled her eyes and opened the drive, checking the contents and removing it from the computer before pushing it back towards them, pocketing the flash drive.

"Was that so hard?" Raven asked. They both glared at her and she shooed them with her hands. "Go on. Leave. I'll contact you boys again once another trade is in order." They left as they grumbled, closing the door behind them and Neela handed the sword back to Raven. Raven nodded, sheathing the blade and turning to leave but Neela stopped her.

"Did you know that we would be here tonight?" Neela asked. "And was that actually Dread?" Raven rubbed the back of her neck and nodded.

"That stuff was the real deal, but I had no clue that you'd be here tonight," Raven told her. "How did you know?"

"Shadow smelt you," Neela said. Raven tried to act like she wasn't impressed but chuckled thoughtfully.

"How did you know for sure?" Raven asked. Neela leaned against the wall and smirked.

"In addition to having heightened senses because I'm a Faunus, my semblance allowed me to see you. I can see things going on around me. It's tricky through walls because everything is kind of blurred, but I only know one other person who has hair like you," Neela explained to her. She looked Raven over. "What's on the USB?" Raven lifted it and examined it.

"I think it's something that you might find interest in," Raven said as she put her mask on and opened a portal behind her, stepping back into it. "Meet me at the docks this weekend. Saturday night around six o'clock. I think it's about time that I get to know my granddaughter." The portal closed around Raven and she disappeared, leaving Neela in a momentary stunned silence as she left the room and returned to her table. Yang looked up at her as she sat.

"Get lost on the way back?" Yang asked. Neela shook her head as Blake approached with Yang's drink.

"For me?" Neela asked. Blake laughed.

"In your dreams," Blake replied.

"Mommy Blake, Mommy Yang said that Grandma Raven smells like fish, but I don't think so," Shadow said. Yang turned, staring across the bar as Blake cleared her throat.

"Yang!"

* * *

"I've got a great feeling about today guys, and I'm not just saying that!" Eliana exclaimed as they rode the airship, sitting side by side on one bench as Coco sat across from them on her own, looking something over on her scroll as she crossed her legs, smiling at them. Ilia was feverishly tapping away, a message to Vin no doubt, Titus sat with his arms crossed, Eliana practically on his lap, but she didn't seem to mind. She craned her neck to try and get a view out one of the windows, Neela watching her the entire time, trying to seem curious, but Coco was getting more of a lustful vibe she was sure everyone else but Eliana was getting too.

"Where's that great feeling coming from?" Coco asked her. "What's brought that on?"

"We're training! That's enough for me!" Eliana exclaimed. Neela chuckled and blushed. It amazed Coco that Neela was more obvious with her crush than any student she'd ever taught, and Eliana was equally oblivious. She shook her head and smirked.

"So what happened to Team CFVY after the fall of Beacon?" Eliana asked. Coco sighed as she leaned back.

"We spent two years in Vacuo at Shade. When we got the call from Glynda and RWBY to help clear out Beacon, we all felt like it was the right thing to do, and after that, we all just decided to settle in. We've all lived in Vale since then. Yatsu is one of my choices for the huntsmen that will be added to the police force, Fox owns a bookstore that I know you're familiar with and Velv and I teach at the school. Tai watches Lamar when we're busy," Coco told her.

"Is there anything you wish you would have done differently?" Eliana pried. Coco stared hard into the distance.

"I wish I would have beaten Emerald and Mercury in the doubles. They really pissed me off that day, not to mention that the only way their plan would have worked is if they defeated us," Coco told her. "But thanks to Neela, I've more or less been avenged." Eliana smiled at Neela.

"That's why training with Coco is my favorite, she gives me the answers I need!" Eliana exclaimed. Coco laughed.

"I enjoy training too," Coco said, "Easily my favorite class." The airship had only reached the other side of Vale before it began to descend, landing in an area that looked mostly like an industrial park and Eliana leaped off of Titus, landing next to Coco and watching the landscape below grow closer. The ship touched down gently, Eliana the first one off, followed by the rest of them and she peered out, pointing to something that had caught her interest.

"Is that what I think it is!?" Eliana asked.

"I guess that depends on what you think it is," Coco replied. Neela stopped in her tracks as she recognized the structure herself and stared in awe.

"The Vytal Festival arena!" Neela blurted out. Coco nodded as she patted Neela on the back, ushering her forward.

"It sure is," Coco told them. "This is one of the locations it sits when it's not in use. I figured it would be helpful for today's adaptation lesson and when the venue is sitting here collecting dust, why not use it?" Eliana took off into the structure with Neela close behind, Ilia still couldn't be bothered to leave her scroll's screen and Titus pushed on it silent wonder. He admired the architecture as he entered. "Well?"

"I always dreamed that one day I would stand in this place as a soldier for Atlas," Titus said. "Delusions of grandeur now that I think back on it." Coco stopped in front of him and made eye contact.

"When you came here at first Titus, your dream was only to outperform. You're a different man now," Coco told him. "Hold on to that dream, as a warrior from Beacon. As a member of Team NITE." Titus searched her eyes for a long moment before he nodded and smiled at her.

"You're right," he replied. Coco chuckled as she walked away.

"Of course I'm right," she responded. She grabbed a large tablet from near one of the tunnels as they stepped onto the battlefield, adjusting different settings here and there, re-examining her work and tweaking adjustments until she was satisfied and left them for a moment, telling them that she had one last thing to retrieve. Ilia put her scroll in her pocket and looked at the three of them.

"Okay, where are we, and what did I miss?" She asked.

"You want the long version or the short version?" Titus asked. Ilia raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"Short?" She answered unsurely.

"This is the Vytal Festival arena and we are going to fight…" Eliana exclaimed before she took a step towards Ilia and lowered her voice. "To the death!"

"Elli, no," Neela said. Eliana threw her head back in laughter.

"Elli yes!" Eliana called out.

"That hardly seems fair, only Ilia or I would win," Titus told Eliana laughing. She gave him an evil glare.

"How do you figure that?" Eliana asked.

"Neither of the two of you has had to kill someone," Ilia said. Ilia looked first at Neela and then Eliana. "Hopefully you'll never have to." Coco returned with harnesses that had a light on the end.

"Are we bonding?" She asked. None of them responded so she shrugged and finished handing out the supplies. "Slip your arms through the straps, these two lights will go here." She displayed it to them, a decently sized beacon on their chest and back. "One on front and one on back."

"What are these for?" Titus asked. Coco glared at him as she took a few steps back with the tablet.

"If you'd let me explain, we could've started by now," she yelled at him. "Try hard."

"I'm listening!" Eliana exclaimed. Coco smiled.

"Good. Now the lights that you're wearing have two settings, blue and red. You'll be in two teams, three on blue and one on red," Coco explained. They all looked at each other, the notion of three on one was ridiculous, but none of them were about to tell Coco she was crazy. "The lights you're wearing will change periodically during training." She began to leave the battlefield.

"How are we being graded?!" Titus called out.

"Good luck!" She yelled back. The ground began shifting beneath them, a mountainous terrain covered half of the floor while desert covered the other, a stark contrast. Eliana's glanced down, noting the red light on her chest and flashing an evil smile at them as she fired both of her guns at Titus who blocked with a wave of air Dust from his swords. Eliana pushed them all back towards the desert with a force field as she made her way up the mountain and watched them from the top. Titus knelt, waiting for Ilia to take Neela's body before launching them after their teammate. Neela fired an arrow as she landed, Eliana blocking it with her power as she charged in, catching Neela off guard by the head on approach. Her prods electrocuted Neela, forcing Ilia out who blocked Eliana with her blades.

She opened fire, several explosive fire Dust rounds sent Eliana sprawling and as she slid to a stop her light became blue. The three girls glanced at each other before realizing that Titus had been chosen. Eliana took off, grabbing onto Neela as the girl repelled down, Ilia taking a head-on approach and leaping off directly towards Titus to buy them time. As she reached him her feet met his blade and he activated the gravity Dust, tossing her away. Eliana opened fire, forcing Titus to create a rock wall to protect himself but also leaving him blind for a moment and oblivious to Neela's attack. She'd fired an arrow almost directly upward and it landed in front of him, leaving him ill-prepared as the arrow exploded and he was thrown back into the barrier. It cracked and Ilia forced her blades in, attacking with fire Dust bullets, shattering the wall and effectively destroying it.

Titus had already moved, he rushed through the collapsing defense and landed a blow on Ilia with ice Dust, encasing her as his light flickered back to blue and his eyes met Neela's. Her own light cycled to red and she fired a lightning arrow in front of herself which threw both her and Titus off of their feet. Eliana had used a forcefield to protect herself and freed Ilia before running in to attack Neela. Neela had already found her feet, flipping her bow into its sword form and grappling Eliana who had fired but had her attack blocked by Neela's blade. As Eliana reached Neela she threw up a barrier that stopped her momentum and in turn yanked Neela off of her feet.

Ilia rushed past Eliana, her blades meeting Neela's as their leader did her best to get out of the way of their attacks. The force sent Neela reeling, she rolled and bounced for a long few moments until her body finally found a resting place in the desert sand. She watched as Ilia rushed towards her quickly, but as she did so, her light became red, and a wave of earth Dust raced quickly beneath Ilia, forming a dome of hardened sand over Neela. She took a deep breath. Titus had been quick enough to protect her. Eliana glanced across the way at Coco as Ilia met Titus head on and they deflected each other's' assaults. She seemed pleased with them.

Eliana fired past Ilia, freeing Neela who placed an arrow in Ilia's back, damaging her aura as the projectile ricochet off and dropped carelessly into the sand. It threw off Ilia's concentration and she turned to face Neela, giving Titus an opening. He took it but Ilia was a step ahead, her plan to seem occupied worked and as he swung she ducked his attack. She knew his pattern, and she was able to throw herself back at him and grapple his neck, possessing his body and leaving Neela and Eliana to wonder for a long moment how to proceed. She chose water with his kopides and slammed them into the ground, and geyser spraying up around her and flowing out like a tidal wave, sweeping the other two girls off of their feet.

"Stop!" Coco yelled. Ilia released Titus and Coco jogged over to them, clapping as she took care not to drop the tablet under her arm. As she reached them she removed it once more and made a few more adjustments to the device. The landscape flattened back out into the large, simple, metal panels and they all came together to huddle around her. Eliana smiled as she took a step forward, placing herself closer to their teacher than the other members of NITE. She laughed excitedly.

"I feel like we did a great job today! Passing scores for the whole team, right?" Eliana asked. She looked at her friends. "We've got adapting down no sweat! Nothing to it!" Coco raised an eyebrow and glanced up at them from the tablet, trying to hide a smirk.

"Is that so?" Coco asked. Eliana nodded, but Neela and the others knew that there was something more that Coco wasn't telling them. "Then I guess you won't have any problem with the second half of our training session today, now will you?" Eliana's smile disappeared and her mouth hinged open.

"I'm sorry… second half?" Eliana asked. Coco removed herself from the battlegrounds once again and queued a timer that appeared on the scoreboard, counting down slowly from ten and they all took a moment to notice it. They all looked at Neela.

"Now what?" Ilia asked.

"Stay on your toes," Neela told them. The clock continued to tick away, nothing seemed to change and they wondered if Coco was simply testing their nerves until the buzzer sounded and they were greeted simultaneously with two huntsmen landing a few feet away from them. Jaune's shield crashed into the ground and brought with it a mighty shock wave that threw all of them onto their backs as Pyrrha landed beside him, taking a knee and blocking a quick shot from Neela with her own shield. Pyrrha stood and took a battle stance and Jaune did the same, giving the students the courtesy of finding a footing.

"Sorry!" Pyrrha called out to them.

"Arkos in action!" Eliana squealed as she leaped up and down with her hands drawn up to her chest. "Neela!"

"Now's not the time to fangirl!" Titus reminded her. She frowned, but it was replaced with a look of determination as she aimed her guns at them.

"Right!" She declared. "What's the pl-" Eliana was cut off as Pyrrha's shield slammed into her chest, knocking the wind out of her. At the same time, Pyrrha had fired several shots at Ilia, forcing her to defend as opposed to attacking as Pyrrha drew her shield back in, blocking another arrow at the last moment from Neela. Titus turned his focus solely on Jaune and defended Eliana from any more attacks with an earth wall, both of his kopides slamming down against Jaune's shield. The reverb threw both of them back from each other, but Jaune had placed force behind his block and Titus slid back past Eliana, the force hard enough to deal damage to his aura.

"Titus!" Neela yelled. "Guns and guns at Jaune!" Neela deflected Pyrrha's spear, mostly able to match her footwork, but taking an occasional blow as Pyrrha had her beat in speed and sheer strength.

"I still think that we can come up with a better name for mine and Eliana's team attack then…" Titus began.

"Not now! Just do it!" Neela commanded.

"Right!" He replied. He shattered the wall that was protecting Eliana and rushed in, Eliana guiding a force field in front of them as they rushed Jaune. He swung out, striking the barrier and it threw him off guard. His shield held fast, but as Eliana pushed out past him, he faltered, moving his shield to block her fire. He expected to then catch both of Titus's blades with his own, but Titus had charged his weapons with gravity Dust, throwing Jaune away who was brought to a sudden stop by his wife's semblance, despite the fact that she was more than a little preoccupied.

"Dammit!" Neela muttered. Ilia moved in, but anytime she attempted to grab Pyrrha the woman used her power to force Ilia's arms away. Neela had no doubt that it was also the reason that Pyrrha was landing so many blows on her.

"New plan?" Titus asked. Neela was close to her breaking point… wait!

"Ilia told me all about what happened with you up at Atlas!" Neela called out. Titus shot a look at Ilia who shrugged and laughed sheepishly.

"It was all over the news and the internet. If anything, I saved you the trouble of having to explain what happened yourself!" Ilia yelled.

"Do that!" Neela yelled. "Ilia, fall back to Jaune!"

"Are you sure?" Ilia asked. Neela stumbled as Pyrrha batted her away.

"Yes!" Neela yelled. "Iliana attack pattern!"

"You got it!" Eliana piped up. Eliana opened fire at Titus, the bullets riddling him as he stood there stoically to allow his aura to drain. Ilia grabbed Eliana and they rushed Jaune again, this time without a force field. As Eliana met his shield, Ilia leaped out over him and he slammed his shield into the ground to throw them away, but Eliana blocked the attack with a quick spherical barrier. Ilia quickly disarmed his sword as Eliana hurdled his defense, slamming her tasing rods into his armor, lighting him up and sending him writhing to the ground.

Titus forced a blow on himself using fire Dust, breaking his aura and dropping his swords as his skin simply flaked off, leaving a gargoyle in his place and he smirked as he planted his feet into the ground, cracking the panel beneath him. He sprinted for them, Pyrrha slamming Neela with the butt of her rifle and sliding away as Titus steamrolled through her, his body crashing into her shield.

"Is this enough holding back Coco?" Pyrrha asked. Coco laughed.

"It  _is_  adaptation training, after all, let's crank it up a bit and see how they deal with the pressure," Coco replied. Pyrrha leaped back and rolled out of the way, Titus running until slamming into a panel that Pyrrha had lifted from the floor and placed in a vertical position. Several more were thrown up around him until he was surrounded, imprisoned by Pyrrha who seemed to have absolute control over the arena now, lifting more into the air and letting them float about lazily without her giving them notice. Neela was beyond intrigued, but the realization that there might be no hope of winning also swept over her. All that was left now was pure desperation.

"Neela!" Eliana called out as she was trapped with Ilia in a similar matter as Titus. There had to be a weakness to this, but what could it be? Neela's mind raced back through all of her schoolings and something clicked. She took off running for Titus's kopides before Pyrrha could trap her as well, diving and dodging out of the way of attacks. Pyrrha caught on as Neela reached the swords and she dragged Neela across the ground as she clung to one of them. Neela could hear Titus slamming against the walls of the trap, forcing Pyrrha to pay more attention to him and Ilia managed to escape during the distraction.

"Distract her!" Neela yelled.

"Because yelling for me to do so with her right there isn't a huge giveaway towards your current plans," Ilia shouted back. Neela opened Titus's Dust chambers, letting them spill out onto the ground. Neela leaped back as a panel flipped up in front of her, Pyrrha was done playing around and planned to finish them off.

"Fire at the Dust!" Neela yelled out to her teammate,

"Sure!" Ilia replied. She did so, Neela firing an earth Dust arrow beside herself to create a touch of extra protection and she hoped for the best. The lightning Dust erupted, lighting up most of the arena, and screwing with the magnetic field. The panels dropped for a moment but Jaune had found his feet once more and blindsided Titus before he could take out Pyrrha. The gap wasn't large enough and before they could all rush in, Pyrrha had regained control over her power and trapped them all once more.

"That's it!" Coco declared. Pyrrha freed them and they all met in the middle of the arena once more.

"Recap?" Eliana asked less enthusiastic than the first time.

"Neela was a little on the reckless side, but she had some good ideas that could have been executed better," Coco told them. "That being said, the rest of you need to work on acting on your own if the need arises. She should do most of the thinking, yes, but not all of it. I get that Arkos is a lot harder to fight than each other, but you need to use the same critical thinking as you did in the first half of today's training. Other than that, you all did a great job protecting each other today, I want to see more of that." Eliana leaned over to Neela as they left.

"Does that mean we passed?" Eliana inquired. Neela laughed and threw her arm over her best friend's shoulders.

"I'm sure we did, Elli," Neela replied with a smile. Coco's scroll rang and she removed it from her pocket, letting her students and Arkos walk ahead of her towards the airship as she answered the call.

"Hello?" she responded as it connected.

"Coco, do you have the weekly report finished already?" Glynda asked. Coco chuckled slightly.

"Of course," Coco replied. "You know that I'm always on time with it."

"Is there any chance that we can go over it tomorrow instead?" Glynda requested. Coco paused for a moment before continuing to follow NITE.

"Of course, what's going on?" Coco asked.

"I can't say too much about it, but we've received another message from Ozpin," Glynda replied.

"Let me guess. Only you, Qrow, and RWBY again?" Coco asked.

"You catch on fast," Glynda said with a chuckle. Coco laughed.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NITE slowly gets better as a team, and it seems Raven wants to meet Neela in private to talk about the contents of the flash drive. Next week, Team NITE builds on their bonds in Chapter 57 - Games and Death!
> 
> A big thank you to Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	61. Games and Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliana has an idea for team bonding, and we have insight into where Oz left one of the stones...

"I have an idea for one last team building exercise that we can all do together tonight!" Eliana exclaimed as she scrambled to the room's closet and clambered about, things crashed and rattled around as she searched furiously for something and they all peaked in at her from the room. Titus laid back on his bed and stretched, yawning and grumbling contently. He sighed and looked up at them, wondering if what she had planned required for him to get back up before sitting up in discontent.

"Do we have to?" Titus asked looking at Neela. "What is she doing in there anyways?" Neela wasn't sure and looked at him for a moment blankly before entering after Eliana and placing a hand on her back. Eliana's face was ear-deep in a pile of clothes.

"Elli, what are you doing?" Neela asked. "You kind of left us hanging." Eliana popped back out and stumbled back into Neela who more or less caught her, an explosion of debris and dust bunnies chasing after the girl and covering them both as Eliana held the game board above her head.

"I found it!" Eliana yelled. Neela looked it over and laughed.

"I can't believe that you brought that," Neela said as she looked at. "Remnant: Conquest. We played this game so much when we were little with my moms."

"I know! They finally just gave it to me because I was always asking to play it," Eliana informed her as she pulled it out and set it down on the floor. "Look!" Ilia looked it over and glanced at Titus who was still sitting on his bed across from them.

"It's a board game," Ilia said.

"This is team building?" Titus asked. "I'm going to bed…"

"It's a game that lets us play as any of the kingdoms and try and conquer the rest of Remnant," Eliana explained to them. "If anybody was going to be really good at this, I thought for sure that it would be Titus."

"Fine, I'll play a game or two, but then it's lights out for me," Titus explained as he stood up. "But do we really have to sit on the floor, that seems like it's going to be really hard on the legs."

"Team CBLT has a table that we can borrow I think," Neela said. Ilia moved to the door.

"I'll go get it and see if they have chairs as well," she said. "Do we want to do any snacks?"

"I'll make popcorn," Titus said leaving with Ilia and closing the door behind him.

"What made you think of the game?" Neela asked.

"I just got to thinking about how much your moms said that they used to play it and thought that it would be a fun thing for the whole team to do," Eliana explained as she opened the box and checked the contents over to make sure that everything was still present. Everything looked to be there and she laughed looking at Neela. "Did you see the look on Titus' face when he decided that he was going to play with us after all? He looked pretty determined but I think he's going to have another thing coming! Nobody has beaten me at this game! I'm not about to begin losing tonight just because some Atlas hotshot will be bringing his tactics to the table!"

"What about Ilia?" Neela asked. "Something tells me that she'll be just as much of a force to be reckoned with."

"Please," Eliana said with an eye roll.

"Did someone say game night?" Cobalt asked standing in the doorway.

"I think this is for Team NITE only," Neela told him. "Maybe you can join us some other time?"

"Nonsense!" Cobalt said as he came into the room and sat on one of the beds. "I'm always up for games and the more people the more fun, right?"

"In theory," Eliana muttered.

"Trust me," he said. "So what are we playing? Truth or dare? Spin the bottle? 7 minutes in the afterlife? Strip poker?" Eliana pointed.

"Get out," she told him.

"It doesn't have to be strip poker… or are you just afraid that I would win?" He asked as Neela grabbed him and pulled him to his feet by his arm. "What happens in this room can stay in this room!"

"You can go play dirty games with your own roommates," Eliana said.

"Dirty games?!" He protested as Neela dragged him out. "What's more team building than seeing each other naked?"

"It's perverted!" Eliana called after him.

"You and Neela see each other naked all the time, right? I wanna see one person naked and I'm the perverted one!" He argued.

"I'll send Titus right over," Neela told him. She tossed him out into the hall, closing the door on him. Cobalt knocked to no avail and stepped away.

"You haven't seen the last of me tonight!" Cobalt yelled. Tawney stopped as she was passing by in the hall.

"What's going on?" She asked him.

"They're playing strip poker and they didn't invite me," he told her. "I'm kind of a professional strip poker player." She shoved him down the hall.

"Don't be a pervert!" She yelled at him. He walked away dejected and she waited until he was no longer in her eyesight before knocking on Team NITE's door. Neela threw it open.

"Hey Tawney, what's going on?" Neela asked her. Tawney stuck her head in, looking around the room before taking a step in.

"Cobalt told me you guys were playing strip poker," she said. "I was wondering if I could get in on that…" Neela and Eliana looked at each other.

"Get in on what?" Neela asked. "We're not even playing strip poker."  
"You believed Cobalt?" Eliana asked. Tawney waved her off in dismissal.

"My team is a bunch of prudes and Cobalt's a freak," Tawney told them. "I just thought that maybe you guys were that tight. I mean, it's more of a shaming thing right? None of you are into each other that way." She glanced at Neela who looked away and blushed. "I think it's a sensible idea, what else are you going to do to poke fun at each other?"

"I can think of a few things," Neela said.

"You know what," Eliana said. Neela looked back at her and Eliana gave her a smirk. "She caught us." Eliana looked back at Tawney who appeared confused. "We are playing strip poker."

"Wait, really?" Tawney asked. She looked at Neela who looked at her and then back at Eliana.

"Yeah… I guess so," Neela said with a sense of hesitation. "We told Cobalt we weren't because… I mean… It  _is_  Cobalt, but we didn't think you'd actually want to play strip poker." Tawney blushed.

"Heh. I mean. If I'm gonna be better than you, I've got to kick your ass at everything," Tawney said. "Plus Ilia will be here, right?"

"She will," Eliana told her. She reached down and started pulling off her shirt. "You're new here so I think it's only fair that we start off with a handicap." Eliana flashed Tawney whose nose exploded in a stream of blood that threw her out into the hall. Neela slammed the door shut, not checking on her as she lay crumpled against the wall in a heap. Neela looked back at Eliana.

"We could have just thrown her out," Neela said. Eliana shrugged as she pulled her shirt back down.

"You guys always act like seeing each other's breasts is a big deal," Eliana laughed. "Plus I'm wearing a bra, it's not like she saw a whole lot." Ilia and Lykos came upon Tawney out in the hall, looking hard at her on the floor.

"What happened to you?" Ilia said with the table and a chair under her arm, Lykos behind her with the other two chairs.

"I think I just won strip poker," she said in a daze. They both looked at her with a shrug before entering the room.

"What happened to Tawney?" Ilia asked as she set down the table and began locking the legs into place. Neela looked at Eliana.

"Tawney was out there?" Eliana asked.

"I didn't know that either," Neela replied to them. "Thanks for the help Lykos."

"Not a problem, though I should point out that we have no clue where the last chair went to," Lykos noted. "One of you will have to sit on a bed."

"Not a problem," Ilia replied. "It beats the floor so again, thanks!" He nodded and moved to Tawney, picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder, preparing to carry her back to the room. Her head lulled and she chuckled.

"They were amazing Lykos!" Tawney said. "Just fantastic!"

"I'm sure they were," Lykos said shaking his head and opening the door.

"I know that face!" Came a shout from inside the room.

* * *

"There's a lot of noise going on over there," Titus said as he threw the popcorn bag at Ilia who dropped it onto the floor. They all looked at it and then back up at Titus. "What?"

"That was hot!" She shouted. He shook his head as he walked over the bed to reach his seat.

"It wasn't that hot," he said. Eliana bent down, tossing the bag behind Neela on the bed and dealing the cards out to them. "What am I doing?"

"There are several ways to win, but the most common is to hold control over the majority of the map," Eliana explained. "There are a lot of action cards and they'll tell you when and how they can be played."

"Alright," Ilia said with a smirk. "Is it safe to assume that we'll all just play from our own kingdom?" They all nodded with the exception of Titus who had a look of concern as he digested all of the information. "Titus?"

"Yeah. Sure. Fine." He replied still distracted.

"Cool," Ilia said. "So, starting from Vacuo gives me the advantage of taking the first move, so I plan on attacking Vale and I'm going to use this!" She showed the card to Neela whose eyes grew wide and Eliana chuckled. "This card halts your advantage of extra resource imports by giving them to me for the first three turns!"

"She's a pro already!" Eliana exclaimed happily. "Finally someone who might match my ability! Titus, you're to the left of Ilia, you go next."

"So my advantage is three extra units because I'm Atlas, right?" Titus asked. Eliana nodded.

"Right," Eliana said. Neela looked at Eliana who wore a large grin on her face. She knew why Eliana wanted them to do this. This wasn't the overly obvious team building they were accustomed to, this was the kind of activity that would strengthen their togetherness and bring them closer as a whole. Neela smirked.

"What do you mean I can't do that?" Titus asked.

"Read that again, it doesn't say that you can trade in your troops for a general yet," Eliana explained.

"That's not how an army works," Titus mumbled.

"This is a game, it doesn't have to work the right way," Ilia said. "At least not to real life. As long as it's consistent with its own rules, what's it matter?"

"I'll overlook it for now," he mumbled. Neela looked at Eliana who beamed.

"Good, now make a move!" Eliana demanded.

_This team would've fallen apart without you Elli. Thank you._

* * *

**A Number of Years Ago**

The salt of the ocean air wafted in through Ozpin's open window and he smiled thoughtfully as he stared out at the clouds and let the gentle rocking of the ship ease his mind. He dipped his quill into the ink once more and added a few more lines to the letter he was writing before folding it and gently tilting the candle on his desk, spilling a touch of the wax onto the envelope so that he could stamp it shut. He glanced at his staff and the mirror that hung above it. That's right, his hair was black again, he had only been in this body for a few years now. A hearty laugh came from just outside his quarter's doors, a bigger man that had wolf ears.

"I just find all of the outlandish claims that the Atlas Kingdom have been making a little hard to believe. Ships that are going to run on Dust instead of wind? That's just crazy!" He exclaimed to a man that Ozpin could hardly see from where he sat.

"Is it?" asked a shorter man with a snake's tongue. He wore a typical sailor's outfit and hissed as he laughed. "Have you seen the factories in Atlas?" Ozpin reserved his laughter over their disbelief. Such things were hardly the craziest he'd ever come in contact with. "The Schnee Family and their industries are going to revolutionize the world soon!"

"But ships that run on Dust?!" The bigger man stated again in disbelief. "Those factories are huge, how big would a ship that runs on Dust have to be? How would they make it float with all of that heavy machinery they'd need to burn the Dust?" Ozpin chuckled and decided to join in on the conversation.

"Perhaps they'll make flying machines next?" Ozpin offered. They both looked at him with a frown and the lizard walked away, looking for something to do so that he could appear busy. "Are all Faunus so cold?" The man took two quick steps and lifted Ozpin by the neck.

"We were told that we won the war for our freedom, but despite that, they asked us all to leave the mainland and live free on this island," the man said. He threw Ozpin to the floor. "We're not animals, and even though I'm not the brightest, I know what exile looks like." Ozpin brushed himself off as he stood.

"You're right," Ozpin said in agreement. "They downplay the achievements of your people by calling it a civil rights movement as opposed to a war, but I was there, I was in Vale and the surrounding countryside, and I saw the bloodshed. The death." Ozpin stared off into the distance. "The last time that I witnessed this much death was in the great war." The brute cleared his throat and laughed sarcastically.

"You're not old enough to have been around for the great war kid," he said. "I'm at least twenty years older than you and I wasn't even around for it." Ozpin laughed.

"Of course," Ozpin replied. "I can get ahead of myself sometimes. I was not there to witness the war, but I read the reports of scholars and soldiers that were there. Stories of the warrior king who slaughtered hundreds to put an end to the war." Ozpin glanced at his staff and frowned thoughtfully for a moment. "The accounts are so vivid that I almost feel like I had been there." The Faunus shook his head.

"My old man's old man says that the final battle only ended the way it did because Mantle's army suffered dehydration and heat exhaustion in their heavy armor," the wolf replied.

"Where is your grandfather from?" Ozpin asked.

"Mistral, and he served in the war!" The man asserted. Ozpin rolled his eyes.  _Of course._  The big man stared at him for a long moment. "What brings you to Menagerie anyway? We were given this island a few months ago and you're the only human stupid enough so far to insist on visiting."

"The king of Vale, Doré Arc has sent me here in the hopes of maintaining peace and to ensure that your people continue to think highly of us," Ozpin explained sitting in his chair once more. "We want to see you flourish and trade between the island and Vale will only help both parties." The man laughed and Oz gave him a smile.

"What a cruel king to send you on such a suicidal mission! The monarchs will soon hold no more power than either of us!" The wolf laughed until he was red in the face. "The people have spoken! The headmasters will teach the people how to protect themselves, and so, they will become the leaders of the four kingdoms!"

"You are well-informed sir," Ozpin replied. "However, it would seem that you are at this point unaware as to who will be ruling Vale as headmaster of Beacon." Oz's deadpan face forced the man to stop laughing and his face twisted into aggression.

"You're not suggesting it's you, are you?" The man scoffed. Ozpin shook his head.

"Of course not," he answered. "I'm  _telling_  you that it is me."

"They'd allow a man so young and so inexperienced at life to have a position like that?" The brute asked. He shook his head. "Maybe they'll make me the chief of Menagerie." He left for the deck as Ozpin stood and picked up his cane.

"If only he knew," Ozpin said as if he were speaking to his staff. He made his way topside and moved to the bow, watching as Menagerie grew on the horizon. It was never his intention for things to get so far out of hand. He had always imagined that the Faunus race was slightly superior to humans, but man had reduced them to nothing more than slaves just because they had different ears, eyes, horns and any number of different features. He had picked the Arc's to carry on his legacy after he gave up being king, but now the people questioned every decision the man made. Ozpin and Doré meant for Menagerie to be a safe haven for the Faunus, not a passive-aggressive form of banishment.

If only he had killed the Brothers instead of storing away their powers. But the story was filled with endless what if's, and all that he could do now was plan for the next choice and hope that he made the right decision. He hoped and prayed that the current peace would last long enough for him to plan for any further attacks and restore the kingdoms' safety. He couldn't call on the maidens for everything anymore, and he hoped that the huntresses and huntsmen would fill in the gaps.

"Land," a woman approaching him on the right said plainly. "I've never been so happy to see land before." He glanced at her, she was wearing a simple sundress that fit just right, she wore no shoes and a large straw hat that was appropriate, but was almost cartoonishly too large. "You don't look like a Faunus." Ozpin smiled.

"You don't either," he told her. She pointed to her eyes.

"The cat eyes aren't a dead giveaway?" She asked a bit surprised.

"I assure you, madam, I see people for who they are, not a feature that others might use to define a person as Faunus," Ozpin told her. "There is very little difference between you and my…" Ozpin thought his words over carefully. "Friend back home."

"She must be a lucky woman," the cat told him. He chuckled and shook his head.

"I think it's more that I'm lucky to have her," he told her. "But where are my manners? I'm Professor Ozpin, Oz for short."

"Misty," she replied. They exchanged an awkward handshake and stood in silence as the island slowly inched closer.

"Perhaps I'll see you again on the island before I leave," he told her. She laughed and blushed, walking away.

"Won't your 'friend' get jealous?" She asked with a wink. He stammered.

"That's not…" She disappeared below deck. "What I meant." Ozpin glanced up at the sun to gauge the time and stared hard at the island once more.  _With any luck, this will be a short trip and I'll be able to arrive back at Beacon before the new students arrive._  The lizard from before popped onto the deck for just a second before spotting Ozpin and leaving again. Oz shook his head. Menagerie awaited him as they threw out the walk off-ramp and he took the initiative to embark before the rest that simply watched him. It was tropical and seemed like a good place for the Faunus to call home, they would be safe here.

Ozpin slowly made his way through the marketplace, smiling at everyone that he greeted, and doing his best to be personable. He meant these people no harm, and he hoped that they would come to accept that fact, but it wasn't cut and dry. They were bitter, forced out of the world and left to their own devices on an island. Ozpin understood their anger, but he never meant for this to be a prison. He wanted this to be a paradise. He began walking into the dense jungle landscape, deeper and deeper until he reached the end border and looked out at the desert.

Kimi was further than he would ever be able to walk, but it was the place he needed to reach and he contemplated teleporting there before a large hulking man placed a hand on his shoulder from behind. Ozpin looked back to see a man who wore a ceremonial robe of sorts, black hair covering his hair and body and he smiled as he let out a rolling laugh and picked Ozpin up, squeezing him hard.

"Oz! I haven't seen you since we defeated the general back at Fort Castle!" The man roared with pleasure before setting Ozpin back down. "How have you been?"

"How have you been Onca?" Ozpin asked. He chuckled and smiled as he looked back at the village.

"Don't let everyone's sour mood get you down, some of us enjoy it here!" Onca declared. He leaned in as if someone might hear them despite their being alone. "My son Ghira has met a girl." Ozpin raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Has he?" Ozpin asked. The man laughed hard again.

"She will make a fine bride!" Onca declared.

"Isn't your boy only about eighteen or nineteen?" Ozpin asked. Onca laughed harder as he led Ozpin back towards the village so that they could commandeer a horse.

"You're one to talk," Onca said. "Teaching those children at those schools to be fighters at seventeen."

"They're quite capable for their age," Ozpin said with laughter in his own voice. Onca nodded.

"Of course," he agreed. "I can't wait to show you the new village, Adar and I have been waiting for you to arrive for some time now, we wanted to talk to you about something and we hope that you could help." Ozpin kept to himself as he mounted one of Onca's horses and following him out through the desert for almost a day, as the night set they reached a small village that was cozied down in the middle of an oasis. Ozpin was impressed and their progress seemed incredible. How was it possible that they had built so much in so little time.

"Ozpin!" Adar called out, the well-dressed redhead ran to them and grabbed him by the shoulders, looking him over. "It's been so long!" The man kissed him on the cheek and released him, waving for him to follow.

"Taurus… what you've done here is amazing," Ozpin said in disbelief. "How did you do it?"

"With my help…" Came a voice from behind him. It was Misty, but now her skin was pale, white in fact, with red veins. Ozpin gripped his cane tight and took up a defensive stance.

"Stay back!" Ozpin told Belladonna and Taurus. Adar reached around and lowered his cane.

"What's the problem, Misty has helped us. She brought us machines that have helped us shape and cultivate the land," Adar told him. Salem gave him an evil smirk and he gritted his teeth.

"I've been helping these people Oz," Salem told him. "Is that so wrong?"

"Using your power no doubt," Oz replied.

"Yes. Though it would seem that you have that silly little death stone on you," she replied. Both Onca and Adar gave him a look.

"What does she mean by death stone?" Adar asked. Ozpin looked back at them.

"I brought it here for you to hide from her," Ozpin explained. Salem took a step closer.

"He omitted the part where it could kill all of you," Salem told them with a grin.

"Oz," Onca said questioning the man.

"I always knew he was dangerous," Adar said. Salem stepped past Oz and put her hand on his shoulder.

"He and the king suggest that you all be put on this island, just so he could use that artifact he has on him to kill all of the Faunus at once. Once you start an experiment and it goes wrong, why not just get rid of the problem altogether?" She asked. Ozpin threw her back and Adar drew his blade as Onca stepped in between them.

"We've known Oz for too long, he fought by our side during the war," Onca reminded Adar.

"Just so he could finish us off here!" Taurus yelled. Onca turned back to Oz for a moment.

"Go!" Onca yelled at him. Ozpin nodded in understanding as he stared Salem down for a long moment before walking away. He looked his staff over in his hand before closing his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"I promised not to use it anymore, but if I have any hope of beating her, I have to do it," Ozpin said. He drew from the energy of the death stone, using his staff to stop time as he walked past the men at a frozen Salem who looked pleased with herself. He once again opened the interdimensional portal and sealed her away, taking several steps into the center of the village and blasting the death stone deep into the earth. He walked away before unfreezing them and rode off for the port.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It turns out that Oz hid the Death Stone on Menagerie, and Team NITE had themsleves a bit of a Game NITE... Eh? Guys? Next week, Chapter 58 - Bonding!
> 
> Game NITE - Ookaminoki  
> 
> 
> A big thank you to Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	62. Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bái and Lykos have some one on one in the woods, as Neela helps Raven try and get back the stolen flash drive.

Lykos wiped the sweat from his brow as he dove out of the way of another attack from Bái, a hailstorm of ice projectiles raining down on him. She was getting better. The shy girl that he'd saved in the woods had turned into quite the huntress, despite still being shy. He had watched her and protected her from the other students that had called her a monster once upon a time, though at this point she hardly needed it. She was strong, even with the bracelet dampening her powers. It was truly amazing.

"Give up yet Lykos-kun?" She called out. Lykos charged in, his whip meeting her ice sword and she pulled him in, struggling against him. He grunted as he tried to throw her away but he felt ice creeping up his legs and he scattered his whip, the shurikens falling to the floor and allowing him to leap away before recalling them to himself. When had she gotten this good? It couldn't all be on account of him, he could only teach her so much, but she seemed to be surpassing even  _his_  skill.

"It'll take more than that to make me give up Bái!" Lykos exclaimed. Another shower of ice daggers and Lykos blocked her attack with precision using his throwing stars. Despite the fact that it was well after lights out on the campus and that they were in the woods, Lykos seemed to have little problem defending against her. The moon did give off a considerable amount of light. He threw them out as soon as they returned and they flew for Bái, she blocked them with her ice shield and raised an ice wall between them to prevent him from retrieving his weapons. Bái used her power to vault the wall and stumbled off of her feet as she found an Ursa instead of Lykos.

Despite being fully aware of Lykos's ability she was taken aback momentarily and Lykos was able to blindside her, knocking her away. She stumbled across the ground and let her ice slide her across the woods, stopping as she hit a tree. Lykos sprinted for her ice wall, vaulting over it and collecting his projectiles. He reformed his whip and took off for Bái again, determined to get the deciding jump on her. He reached where she'd been but she had already moved. Lykos glanced around, the tree beside him exploding and throwing him off of his feet which allowed Bái to move in and jump on him. She held her blade to his neck.

"How'd I do?" She asked. He smirked.

"Someone's been paying attention in science class," Lykos said. He noted that Bái was only a few inches from his face as she slipped pulling her sword away, lying on his chest but catching herself with the ground. They stared into each other's eyes and Bái smiled at him, she blushed as she pushed her hair out of her face and swallowed hard. Here they were. Initiation. The dance. Training her. Protecting her. Everything in him told him that it was time, that it would be okay to move ahead with their relationship, but Bái slowly transformed into his mother.

"Lykos, can you bring me the milk out of the fridge?" She asked him. She was standing on the other side of a small kitchen from him and he smiled and nodded as he ran across the kitchen, throwing the door open and removing the milk, struggling to lift it up to him and she laughed. "You're getting stronger everyday Lykos. Someday you'll be big and strong like your father." Lykos smiled and nodded as he laughed.

"I'll be stronger than dad! Someday I'll be strong enough to beat even dad!" Lykos shouted. His mother's face changed slightly, her smile fading for a moment as she stared him in the eyes and nodded, her smirk returning as she turned back to the meal.

"Good," she replied. "I'm sure you will Lykos. One day you'll be much stronger than your father." The door was thrown open and Lykos' father stepped in, he smelt heavily of alcohol and stumbled as he looked angrily at the two of them, his face a dark red.

"What the fuck is going on in here?" He asked. He threw the bottle in his hand and it shattered as it crashed against the wall and scattered across the room, Lykos' mother stepping forward and moving Lykos behind her. Lykos looked up at her and glanced past at his dad. Lykos tried to run past her but she held him back and looked at him hard, her face cold and stern. Lykos' excited demeanor changed to concern and fear. "Did I stutter the first time?!" His father crashed into one of the chairs in the dining room and he threw it back towards the door.

"Just tell me what you want, I'm making dinner," Lykos mother told his dad. His father chuckled, clambering through the house before stopping at Lykos mother and grabbing her jaw. She removed his hand and he slapped her across the face. She cried out in pain, sliding away and Lykos moved to retaliate. "NO!" Lykos looked at his mother who rarely ever raised her voice. "Lykos leave. Just go."

"But…"

"Lykos, mommy is okay. I'll be okay Lykos, just go before daddy hurts you too."

"Lykos, are you okay?" Bái asked. He came to, his body trembling beneath her. He looked up at the night sky above her and grunted.

"You're still on top of me," he told her. She blushed hard and leaped up, brushing herself off as she reached down to pull him to his feet.

"I'm sorry Lykos-kun," she told him. Lykos looked at her and brushed her hair out of her face. She froze for a moment and looked deep into his eyes. "Lykos… h- have you ever been in love?" Lykos eyes became serious.

"I loved my mother," he told her. "She was truly an amazing woman." She looked away dejected.

"That's not what I meant," Bái replied. She traced her foot and she reached her right arm across her body and held onto her left. Her body swung slowly back and forth. "I mean like romantically." Bái stared up at the stars and sighed. "I don't remember much before waking up in the hospital. The council found an orphanage for me. That was my childhood. I don't really remember any kind of love, but I have an idea… a feeling of what it would be like." She looked at Lykos again, her face projected distress and he wondered if she was holding back tears.

" Bái," Lykos said taking a step towards her.

"How? How can I have a feeling that I've never been taught how to feel?" Bái asked. "Lykos…" She drew in a sharp breath. "Lykos I-"

"My father beat my mother," he told her. The wind quickly left her and she watched him. He stared at the ground.

"Lykos, I'm sorry," Bái said. He tried to chuckle so she wouldn't worry so much.

"I'm afraid to love Bái. I don't want to turn out like that monster. He treated my mother horribly and I'm just afraid that I might be capable of the same," Lykos told her. She took a few steps to him and grabbed his hand gingerly, causing him to look down at it before looking back up at her. His heart was pounding loudly enough in his chest that he couldn't hear anything else. Her hand was warm, it felt nice in his.

"Lykos, you're not like that," Bái told him. "You would never hurt me." He looked at her, something slowly breaking inside. "You've done everything right so far. You've protected me. You're kind to me." He was hesitant. "Lykos…"

_Lykos, mommy is okay. I'll be okay Lykos, just go before daddy hurts you too._

The anxiety was building in his chest. There was a fear that he'd become his father, but there was a greater fear that someone like Paris might come along and try to do something awful to her again. He needed to be there for her. He needed to protect her. He couldn't explain it, but Bái seemed so much like his mother.

"Lykos…" She stammered again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath once more. "Lykos I-" Lykos cut her off with a kiss, her eyes shot open in shock and she melted, Lykos hand brushing her cheek and holding the back of her head. He released the kiss and she looked at him in disbelief for a long moment before her face twisted into a smile and she ran back towards the dorms screaming. "Oh my Oum! Lykos kissed me! Ahhhhhh! Tawney! Cobalt!" Lykos smirked, his mind trying to push aside the thought of his father. He slowly walked back towards the dorm. Pyrrha and Jaune walked out from deeper in the woods and watched the two of them walk back towards their room.

"Now aren't you glad we waited instead of yelling at them?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune chuckled as he held her hand and they walked across the school grounds towards the apartment.

"I wasn't going to  _yell_  at them, I was just going to remind them that they were out past curfew," Jaune said.

"And how many times were we out past curfew training you on that rooftop?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune chuckled and kissed her on the cheek causing her to giggle.

"Lots," Jaune said.

* * *

Neela stood on the end of the longest pier and stared out at the reflection of the broken moon on the water. Remnant was a large world, much larger than she could ever hope to comprehend, but it gave her a feeling of peace knowing that the same moon that she looked at now was the same that Eliana would be watching from the dorms. It was the same moon that gave light to the night to her family that lived in Atlas. The same celestial body that shone on the shadows of the Fang. When she thought about it that way, the world didn't seem so big after all. But it was. She was but a speck. One of several million people who was just trying to make it by in life by doing what they felt that they needed to in order to survive.

It was humbling. This was the first time that she had taken a break and set aside a fleeting moment for complete solidarity. Her body ached spiritually from running after greatness for the last several months, but the concept of greatness didn't stop. Pride and determination ran at her side, or sometimes, more accurately, behind her. They pushed her on as greatness taunted her from the finish line, but she lacked self-discipline in the matter. Some days it helped and others it just left her exhausted. Learning at Beacon wasn't meant to be a fifty-meter dash, but a marathon that demanded a slow and steady pace. It was quiet.

In this moment that race didn't matter. She was alone. She was safe. She was content. She let out a sigh and smiled as the thought about Eliana and wished that this could have been another moment that they could share, but she knew she couldn't bring her along. She knew that she needed to meet Raven alone. If Yang found out she'd probably kill Raven and punish Neela severely. The huntress in training had been tight-lipped for the last week, refusing to even tell Blake, who was well aware that they'd met up during the dinner. Neela laughed as she kicked a small rock from the edge of the dock and watched it splash into the water, using her power to see it complete its journey, coming to a rest on the ocean floor.

She was sure that Eliana would have a lot to tell her in the morning. Titus and Ilia would complain that Eliana wouldn't shut up about her. It made Neela happier than words could describe. Her life was so close to perfect and she only needed to reach out and touch the last few pieces of the puzzle to make it happen. She'd either fix Raven and Yang's relationship or send Raven away. She'd help stop the Fang and bring peace to Blake once more. She would finally… Neela's thoughts derailed as she looked hard at her body blocking the moon's reflection. Would she finally tell Eliana? In a world of chaos and tragedy, was it sane to believe that her dreams could come true?

"I know that look," Raven said as she approached Neela with a determined saunter, stopping several feet away. Neela looked back at her and waited for what the woman would say next. "It's the same look that Qrow had on his face every time that he was thinking of Summer." The darkness of the night made it impossible for her to be completely certain, but Neela thought that she saw Raven crack a smile. She put on her mask and blinked, her red eyes seemed to glow and were menacing. "And we all know how that turned out." It was a harsh way of putting it, but Raven seemed like the kind of woman that worked best delving out doses of cold, hard reality. Remnant was unforgiving, and it would likely prove it could live up to the claim if Neela didn't tell Eliana sooner than later.

"What's on the flash drive?" Neela asked, her doe eyes becoming hard and now she was certain that Raven was smiling, she could hear it in her voice.

"Not beating around the bush anymore, are we?" Raven asked. Neela's expression refused to change and Raven held out the flash drive before snatching it back at the last second, Neela failed to grip the device and Raven threw it hard out into the water. The sound of it landing into the water with a plunk was hardly audible to Raven, but Neela's ears made no mistake after she'd lost sight of it and she looked back at Raven confused. "The files that I was seeking  _were_  on the drive, but it was rigged to wipe itself after five minutes of use. They had no problem proving the contents existed at the restaurant because they knew I wouldn't get them. However, the Dread that I gave to them is very real and we are going to demand a refund." Raven gripped her sheathes trigger for a moment and the Dust chambers spun before locking into place. "By force, if we have to."

"That still doesn't answer my question," Neela restated annoyed. "What  _was_  on the drive!?" Raven shook her head.

"Too pushy. I give out information on a need to know basis. You haven't even offered me information in return," Raven replied. Neela didn't give an inch, pushing past Raven and heading for the port. Raven watched her for a long moment. "Where are you going?" Neela glanced back. She knew why Raven had agreed to let her tag along, and if Raven wanted to play mind games, Neela could play them too. She was going to get information and she'd help Raven mend her relationship with Yang in the process. Give and take.

"Back to my dorm. If you aren't going to tell me anything, then I have to study," Neela informed her. Raven gritted her teeth, tempted to let her go, but it was probably her last chance at fixing things. She didn't know how to go about doing it, and where Tai and Blake refused to tell her how, she hoped that the girl would be simple enough to just come out with it. She had no business knowing what she planned, but if she didn't tell Neela her plans would be put to an end in seconds and Tai surely wouldn't let her live with him forever. He tolerated her at best, but as much as she wanted to be pissed off at his anger towards her, she knew why he was. Raven groaned.

"Neela!" Raven shouted. Neela stopped and looked back at her.

"What?" Neela asked walking back so that she could hear Raven better.

"The drive contained information about your family," Raven told her. Neela's eyes narrowed.

"What?" Neela asked, wondering if she was imagining what she'd just been told.

"The Fang somehow got their hands on information about your family specifically and your team," Raven said. Neela shook slightly as she took a step away from Raven, her heart racing to life and she clutched her chest, her breathing quickly choosing rampancy and erratically pumped her lungs. She looked hard at the wooden boards that made up the dock below her as the echoes of the past surged into her mind and she tried to shake them. They hated humans. They would kill Eliana. Kill her mothers. Kill Shadow. Her.

_A perfect tool. She'll make a fine weapon and restore greatness to the Faunus and Fang like no one before her._

_Just a child, but so much potential._

_She could be the one to turn the tide. The one who brings the majority into our favor._

Kill the humans. Even Faunus that opposed them. Kill Ilia, Titus, Yang, Blake, Eliana, Shadow… All of them. Everyone. Neela was instantly returned to reality as a hand struck her face hard and she reeled to the left. It stung, and she looked back up to see Raven standing above her.

"We will stop them Neela," Raven told her. Neela looked at her in a dazed awe. Did Raven really want to help her? "Are you going to help me fix this?" Raven asked. Was this her chance? Was this her moment to fix everything? To bring happiness back to both of her mothers, to protect Eliana and her teammates, to become the huntress that everyone thinks that she can be?! The fear had subsided and Neela swallowed hard as she nodded.

"So the drive was only a copy?" Neela asked.

"Exactly. The one with the information about your family hasn't been handed over to Athena yet, it's been passed through several hands so that if anyone does happen to find out about it, they won't be able to trace it back to the original source. The information about your team, however, is in one of Athena's handmaiden's possession, and they are working with a man known as Admon as we speak to try and crack it." She told Neela. She turned away so that Neela couldn't see her face as she lied, despite wearing a mask. "But I don't know where the White Fang is and even if I did, it would be too dangerous to go in and take anything, short of amassing an army or bringing the council along."

"What's wrong with getting the council involved?" Neela asked. Raven looked back at her.

"You're not truly so naïve, are you?" Raven asked. "I've been wanted by the government since the day I took over my clan. If they caught me they'd sentence me to a slow and painful death."

"Perhaps you can redeem yourself with this," Neela suggested. Raven scoffed.

"You and Ruby might think so, but the others would not agree. Sterling would see me dead before they could even place me on trial. He says he means well by all of his decisions, but I'm starting to wonder otherwise," Raven told her opening a portal beside them. "We have no more time to waste with all of this small talk. If we can find out where the original Xiao Long flash drive is now, there's still hope that we can stop it from reaching the Fang." Neela nodded preparing to step into the portal.

"Right," she replied. She stepped through, the change instantaneous as she found herself facing a nightclub that she could hear from the stretch of run-down highway she stood in the middle of that was at least one hundred yards away. Raven stepped out behind her and stared across the full parking lot towards the bouncer that stood at the door and she walked with confidence straight up to the man. He didn't say a word to her, never unfolded his arms or changed his demeanor. The man stepped out of the way, both of them free to enter, Raven holding the door open for Neela and letting it slam close behind them. Raven unsheathed her blade.

"Are you ready?" Raven asked.

"What do you mean ready?" Neela asked. Raven took a few quick steps forward to the sliding doors.

"They aren't exactly keen on me here," Raven said. The doors slid open and the music, if it could be called that, flooded Neela's Faunus ears and drowned her eardrums. She could barely hear anything but as Raven made her grand entrance and gave them all a wave the record that was playing scratched, ceasing the noise as all eyes were on Raven. She seemed quite pleased with the response and she cleared her throat. "Where is Junior?!" They all looked at her for a long moment before up from the bar strutted two women that must have been close to Neela's mothers in age. One was dressed in red and black, the other in a white and greenish blue, and they pointed in unison at the DJ.

"It's fine!" Melanie yelled.

"Keep playing!" Miltia added. The girls walked away without another sound as the music picked back up and Raven followed them to the bar with Neela on her tail. She sat on one of the stools.

"Whisky," Raven said to the bartender. "And water for the girl." Melanie and Miltia stood on the other side of the counter and stared at Raven, never taking their eyes off of her or speaking until she got her drink.

"What do you want, Raven?" Melanie asked.

"You said that you'd never come back," Miltia reminded her. Raven smirked.

"I know what happened last time, and what was said, but you girls are both just too cute for me to keep away forever. I came here for information," she told them. Melanie sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Like always," Mel said.

"Can't you just come in here once to dance with us?" Mil inquired. Raven's smirk disappeared.

"Do I seem like a dancer to you?" Raven asked plainly. Neela looked at the far end of the bar, a girl who appeared to be a few inches shorter than her watched her sip water. The girl looked much too young to be in the bar, and her curled, blonde twin tails with too much volume only furthered the feeling. She waved happily at Neela and Neela waved back despite her bewilderment. "Are you ladies going to get Junior so that he can help me, or not?" Melanie shook her head with her arms crossed.

"It'll cost you," Mel said.

"He retired a few years ago," Mil answered. Melanie shot her a cross look.

"Miltia!" Mel exclaimed. "You can't just give her the info. We probably could have gotten something in return."

"Do you really want her to tear the place apart again?" Mil asked.

"If he's retired, then who do I talk to about gossip?" Raven asked them, her voice annoyed as her patience was quickly running out. Neela could tell that she didn't care much for the place but wasn't sure if it was the atmosphere or sheer volume of people inside. Neela could help fight their way out if they needed to, but she hoped that it was preferred as a method of last resort. "I'll start killing people, beginning with the two of you, if I don't get an answer. Take your pick."

"Melanie?" Miltia asked. Melanie groaned and unfolded her arms.

"Sirius?" Melanie asked Miltia as though she was double checking. Miltia nodded and looked at Raven.

"Sirius," Miltia repeated. "You're in luck, he happens to be in the back in one of our VIP rooms tonight." Miltia walked back around the bar. "Follow me." Neela and Raven found their feet and let Miltia guide them, but Neela could feel herself beginning to sweat harder. She swallowed and Raven caught her eye for a fleeting moment.

"Something wrong?" Raven asked. Neela shook her head.

"It's nothing really," Neela replied. "It's just that I've met Sirius before and I'm under the impression that he doesn't care much for me." Raven chuckled.

"If he tries anything tonight, I'll remove his head from his shoulders," Raven told her. Neela couldn't argue with that and she entered the room ahead of Raven, Sirius seemed relatively drunk with Astra and Asteria draped over him on each side of the large leather couch. He stiffened for a moment as he spotted Neela but his demeanor made a one-eighty as Raven sat beside her on the opposite side of the small round table. "Sirius I assume?"

"Well if it isn't Neela," he said in a matter of fact manner. "And everyone knows the great Raven Branwen." He tried to make himself more comfortable and failed miserably, nearly sliding off the couch instead and the girls laughed as they pulled him back up. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" Raven drew her sword and held it to his neck he glanced down at it and chuckled as he lightly shook his head. "Clearly not here for the drinks I take it? At least not the little Faunus beside you, she's far too young."

"There's a flash drive with information from the Council's servers located at Beacon on it," Raven told him. "I want to know where it is now." Sirius looked at the twins who shrugged at him.

"Why would Raven Branwen, the most infamous loner in the history of Remnant, care about a silly little flash drive with the information of a family she doesn't even know? Listen, I'm a drifter too and at one point I thought that maybe I'd want a family but I wised up real quick," Sirius said as he pushed the sword away with his hand. "You're wasting your time here Raven. Why don't you go back to Mistral? Or, better yet, you try and take on Athena alone again and see what happens. The best case scenario is that you both kill each other and the world ends up a safer place because of it."

"I care about the flash drive," Neela said. Sirius laughed with a slur, trying to point at her but his body swayed for too much. "Tell us who has it now or I promise that this night won't end as smoothly as you hope." Sirius stood and looked down at Neela.

"You're only a child and you can't understand how these things work, but you won't always get your way in life. The only thing keeping Raven from killing me right now is the fact that without a shadow of a doubt in her mind, she knows that I have information about the flash drive. Let's have Beacon's number one freshman huntress sit this one out, and we'll see if Raven gets agitated enough to kill me," Sirius said. His eyes narrowed as he looked at her. "Oh, but you won't do anything awful enough to make me talk. You have to stay on Neela's good side so that she can fix the problem between you and your daughter… Sound accurate?" Sirius sat and hiccupped. "I might have had a bit to drink, but I'm not so far gone that I can't outsmart you." Raven stood.

"He's right Neela, let's go," Raven told her as she moved to the door and opened it. "Neela!" Neela sat for a long moment, watching Sirius closely as he laughed. In a blur, she had removed an arrow from her quiver and slammed it into his chest, just next to his heart. Both of the girls shrieked out of the suddenness of it all and Neela held the arrow firm as his hand grabbed hers. He grunted and groaned as he tried to shake her off, but her grapple hook had latched to a stripper pole located behind the couch allowing her to pin him effectively. Neela gritted her teeth and stifled an amused laugh.

"What the hell?" Sirius asked as his mind raced to catch up to the situation.

"I'm a huntress, sometimes you have to do things that aren't right in order to protect the people you love," Neela said. "You're right, seeing Raven torture you would be a good indicator that nothing has changed." A grin crawled onto her face as she shot a knowing look back at Raven. She leaned down to his ear and whispered in it. "But I can leave and I won't have to  _see_  any of it."

"Part of that regiment involves seeing how far I can shove the tip of my katana under each fingernail before he starts screaming in pain," Raven told him. Neela laughed internally. Raven clearly didn't get the concept of good cop bad cop, but it didn't matter now. Sirius's eyes grew frantic as he tried to remove Neela but it was no use.

"Get off!" He shouted in desperation.

"Who has the files?!" Neela yelled.

"Screw you," Sirius spat. Neela wiped her face slowly, pulling her arrow out which drew another cry of pain from Sirius and leapt off, making her way to the door.

"Do whatever you want to him," Neela said. Raven smiled and moved towards Sirius who scrambled to the right but was stopped by the broadside of her sword.

"Is this worth dying for?" Raven asked. Sirius flinched as she raised it above her head and swung down.

"Paris!" Sirius cried out prompting Raven to come up short. Both the twins gasped and looked at him.

"Sirius!" Astra yelled at him.

"Yes! Sirius!" Asteria shouted.

"Nobody cares for him anyway! Besides, I don't know where he is. Once Mercury was captured and Paris got his new orders he was relocated so the council wouldn't find us," Sirius exclaimed. Neela took a step back into the room but Raven stopped her with her arm.

"Where are you hiding out?!" Neela asked. Raven ushered Neela out quickly and closed the door behind. "What's the big deal?!"

"We got what we came here for, now it's time to leave," Raven told her practically dragging her out.

"What about the rest of Stardust?" Neela demanded.

"What about them? I don't care about helping the council or anyone else," Raven told her. "I'm only here to protect the family." Raven opened a portal and shoved Neela in, placing them back out on the docks. "You can figure out where Stardust is on your own time, I need to figure out where this Paris character is before he can hand the files off again."

"Would you have killed him if he hadn't told you?" Neela asked trying to change the subject. She knew there was no use in being angry about it, Raven was a determined and stubborn individual who wasn't going to indulge Neela just because she tagged along. She wouldn't have been surprised if Raven was considering this as babysitting. Raven took a deep breath and looked her over.

"You can't understand until you're out in the field without anyone else to look out for you or telling you exactly what to do. Maybe I would have killed him, it's hard to say what would have happened next, but just from my short time in this city, would killing him have been such a bad thing?" Raven asked.

"Everyone deserves a fair trial," Neela told her. Raven shook her head as she took off her mask.

"Life isn't that cut and dry," Raven replied. "What if it had been Athena and she was about to kill Shadow? Would you still try and find a way to let her live?" Neela thought it over and agreed partially with Raven. It was situational and partially had to do with the heat of the moment. "I will admit that you surprised me back there. Stabbing him with that arrow?"

"I was getting into it, and I had to get him back for the scar his teammate left on me," Neela told her. Raven smirked.

"Are you sure that we aren't related by blood?" Raven asked as she messed up Neela's hair.

"Now what?" Neela asked as she shook her off.

"I'll be in touch as soon as I figure out more about this Paris, or who he passed the files off to," Raven told Neela. Raven turned to walk away but stopped before reaching the end of the dock up by the port. "Your friend. Eliana is it?" Neela nodded. "Tell her how you feel before it's too late. You'll regret it if you don't." With that Raven slipped into a portal and disappeared leaving Neela to reflect on the words. There was a sense of irony to the fact that her grandmother hadn't taken her own advice. Neela glanced back at the moon once more. Why was Stardust helping the Fang? She took a deep breath and headed for the airship docks down the coast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bái and Lykos seem closer, and Neela learns that the Stardust gang is helping the Fang. But why? Next week, the Atlas Military moves to pull SDC employees out of Menagerie in Chapter 59 - Quake!
> 
> A big thank you to Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!


	63. Quake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Atlas heads to Menagerie to remove the SDC before things get hostile.

Kitsune stepped onto the deck of the ship as the waves gently rocked the vessel back and forth, spotting Winter on the far end and marching to her, ending in a salute as she reached her superior. Winter waved her off and Kitsune shrugged as she stared into the distance with a sense of wonder in her eyes.

"We're pulling the SDC out, right?" Kitsune asked. Winter sighed as she stared into the water in front of the ship.

"We don't have a choice in the matter," Winter told her. "Things have gotten too tense, and if we continue with our mining plans things would get out of hand." Kitsune leaned against the railing and looked at Winter.

"What about the Dust shortage?" Kitsune asked.

"The sooner that Sterling and Olesia can take care of Strakh, the better. However, Weiss does have a contingency plan and it's not like anyone will be opposed to it," Winter told her lieutenant general. "Ruby and Qrow have already given her permission to start mining in the wilderness south of the City of Vale. The land isn't as rich with Dust as Menagerie, but it will do for now. As soon as we pick up the laborers here we've been tasked with delivering them to Sanus" The coastline was rapidly approaching and the two of them moved to the back of the ship.

"Isn't a show of military force the last thing that we'd want to bring to Menagerie?" Kitsune asked.

"It's precautionary," Winter said. Kitsune rolled her eyes.

"I feel like there's more to it than that," the Faunus told her. Winter smirked.

"Classified," Winter replied. Kitsune nodded and chuckled.

"Of course," Kitsune replied.

"General Branwen! We might have a problem!" Yelled one of the soldiers from the front of the ship. Winter and Kitsune took off and spotted a mass of Atlas soldiers that were set up on the shore.

"They're wearing green armor?" Kitsune asked. "I thought they did away with the airship soldiers' armor." Winter turned back to her crew.

"All hands on deck!" Winter shouted out. "Hold your fire until they attack first, we can't risk starting a war here!"

"Who are these men?" Kitsune asked.

"Remember the psycho at the ball with the sniper rifle?" Winter asked her as she removed her scroll and made a call. "Stay cloaked for now. Battle formation three." Winter hung up and her hands fidgeted as she lightly gripped her hilt. "These men aren't properly trained for this. We've had peace for so long."

"But they've trained just like I did," Kitsune stated. "What do you mean they aren't ready?"

"There's a difference between training and experience," Winter reminded her. Kitsune agreed. She motioned for one of the men to come over to her and she pushed out her chest a bit.

"Hey there handsome, any chance I can borrow that assault rifle?" She asked. He nodded and she repaid him with a kiss, her eyes flared as she took his gun and he stumbled away with a dumb smile on his face. Winter unsheathed her rapier, pointing for the shore and bracing with her left hand as she opened a glyph. "You sure about this?"

"We need to find Ghira," Winter told her. "Admon always has something up his sleeve. If we stay out here we'll be…" A large laser blasted from the shore and slammed into one of the invisible airships, taking one of its engines as the ship became visible. "And since he used to be Atlas Military, he's relatively aware of our strategies!" Winter's scroll rang and Kitsune removed it as Winter held her pose.

"General Branwen!" The shouting over the speaker audible to both of the women.

"This is Lieutenant General Aka. Hold your fire and if need be, have your men evacuate the airship. Tell the other airship to land on the water behind us and reduce their engine power," Kitsune told them hanging up. She looked at Winter. "Something new."

"It's defensive, but with the water-based ship in the way, it might keep the men on the shore from noticing the water displacement from the transparent airship behind," Winter told her. Another laser blasted into the air and it passed through striking nothing, fading after a moment. "He was still attacking towards formation three."

"We need to move in and take out that laser before they target us instead," Kitsune told Winter. Winter turned back towards her glyph. It spun faster and sprouted three more in front of it, the white glyphs aligned perfectly and Winter placed one last time dilation glyph beneath them.

"Branwen!" The captain called.

"Meet us on shore," Winter said and with that, her and Kitsune leapt through. They flew through at an unimaginable speed, the laser activating once more as they left the path. Winter opened a black glyph before landing, it pulled the laser off of its path and blasted it harmlessly into the sky. Kitsune landed next to one of Admon's officers, winking at him before tripping him with her tail and slamming her foot into his chest. She loaded several bullets into him and snatched away his saber, smiling as she inspected the sword.

"This'll come in handy," Kitsune said to herself as she took off towards Winter's landing place near the weapon, watching as the woman used her glyphs to pick apart the men around it. The airship that had been damaged crashed into the market, sending debris and shrapnel everywhere. Kitsune tackled Winter in the middle of an attack, boards scattering about as the women landed in the soft sand. Aka rolled off of her General and leapt back up to finish off the laser as Winter looked out at the wreckage.

"The council isn't going to be happy about this," Winter said. Her mind drifted back to her mission from Ruby. She was here to retrieve the Stone of Death. She glanced at Kitsune who finished off the weapon and landed beside her as it exploded, her tail draped over her own shoulder. She pet it for a moment and looked at Winter with big eyes.

"I think we make an awesome team," Kitsune told her.

"Stay focused," Winter told her. Kitsune sniffed the air and looked towards the back of the village.

"I smell a lot of Faunus further down the path," Kitsune told Winter as she checked her scroll. "The map shows a meeting house back that way."

"Can you take care of the problem here if I head further inland?" Winter asked. Kitsune's tail slid off of her shoulder and she raised her eyebrow.

"Do I have a choice?" Kitsune asked.

"I'll meet up with you soon," Winter told her. With that, she was gone, and Kitsune headed back for the shore, slicing and firing her way through Admon's men as she met up with her own. The soldiers poured out and began to push out onto the land.

"We've got experience on our side," the captain said. "That seems obvious."

"Winter warned me that we should be careful," Kitsune explained. "Apparently Admon is a bit of a tactician."

"The same guy from the ball incident?" The captain asked.

"The same one," she told him. The captain removed his sickle sword and spun it in his hand for a moment before gesturing to Kitsune.

"What's the plan?" He asked.

"We need to find the island's inhabitants," Aka told him. The soldiers held their own as they forced Admon's men into a slight retreat and a man with a large blade stepped through the ranks, his body and face covered in dense tattoos. He only wore a pair of white tattered pants with a rope wrapped around his waist that seemed to double as a belt. He slammed the blunt side of his sword against the ground, using it in conjunction with his semblance which lit up his tattoos, and it caused a shock wave that allowed him to slice through the mass of soldiers, taking out at least ten. "Fall back!"

"I won't allow that," the man said. As the Atlas soldiers moved back he embedded his sword deep into the ground, a seismic shock wave forming behind the platoon and forcing them back towards the man and he took out another ten, cackling as he inhaled sharply. "Yes!" Kitsune glanced over for the captain to assist with forming a plan but he was gone and she hesitated for a moment before deciding on going in. Her men couldn't get away from this man, he was too strong. "Where's Winter Branwen? She's the only one that Abigor is worried about!"

"Maybe he should reevaluate the rest of the Atlas Military," the captain called out. "We won't be defeated so easily. We stand for freedom and order, what do you stand for?" The brute removed his sword, slicing the air and creating a schism in the middle of the battalion, a parting through which he could view the captain who had moved. He grasped something in his free hand, one of his sickle swords in his right. The captain smirked at the brute who met his confidence with a laugh before licking his lips.

Kitsune felt like she should stop the man from going in but his aura of self-confidence was convincing enough to keep her out of the fight for the moment, though she moved towards a better vantage point in case she needed to move in quickly and help him out. She tapped a few of her soldiers on the shoulder and motioned for them to continue further inland. She gave them several hand signs that indicated for them to get in contact with her once they had found the 'hostages' and with a nod, they slowly made their escape as the captain had the villain's full attention.  
"Some of us are born with semblances and don't do anything with them just because we don't like the idea of all of the added attention that comes with them," the Atlas officer explained as he walked through the gap slowly to approach the man, still gripping something tight in his left hand. He chuckled. "I could be the same rank as the fox girl back there, but I prefer obscurity, only using my power when the situation calls for it." The brutish man tilted his hand and wagged his tongue, saliva dripping onto the sand beneath his feet as he lifted his sword.  
"A lot of talk from a man who can't possibly match me in strength," he replied laughing.  
"I'll give you one chance to give up," the officer informed him. Kitsune shot him a look of disbelief and spotted the men she'd sent ahead in the distance. The captain had to be bluffing, and he was doing a better job of stalling the monster than she would have been able to. The large man cackled before throwing his head back, tongue still extended as he rasped and his body trembled. He glanced around at them.  
"You'll all be finished with a single swing," the hulk breathed, inhaling in a way that caused a sharp gasping noise before planting his feet. The sand shifted in suddenly, grabbing them all and pulling them towards the middle like a sinkhole, and Kitsune attempted to leap back but failed, noting for the first time that the captain wasn't wearing any shoes at this point. Why? Kitsune braced to deflect, never taking her eyes off of the officer who became sand without warning and collapsed into the ground beneath him and she gasped. The freak looked back down at the Atlesian Army approaching him and gave a mighty horizontal slash but at the last moment the captain returned from the sinkhole, his body made entirely of sand and his sickle sword catching the brute's.  
They were all thrown off of their feet as the ground suddenly stopped and the two men glared at each other for a long moment. Time seemed to slow and for a fleeting second, Kitsune thought that she recognized the assailant… but from where? The bigger man unleashed a quick flurry of attacks, all blocked or caught by the curved blade of the officer, a torrent of sand flying about as he disappeared into the grains below him on occasion and reappeared. The brute cracked a grin.  
"There it is," he exclaimed. His tongue hung out again as he leapt back, his sword cut quickly into the sand and the sand was thrown back from him, the soldiers covering their faces as they attempted to take cover behind stands and shacks that were scattered across the market at this point. The Atlas fighter tried to take to the cover of the beach but was unable to and the maniac's blade cut up from the sand like it was butter, striking a blow to the officer's aura as he slid back. An excited and pleased laugh from Admon's man. "I think I've put an end to your tricks." The captain didn't appear deterred and his body became metal as he dropped the bullet that he'd been clenching in his fist the entire time. Kitsune and the beast both gave a smug grin as they realized his gimmick. He could turn his body to whatever he touched.  
"Give up now?" The officer asked. The man threw his head back laughing maniacally, cutting it off abruptly and looking him dead in the eyes.  
"And miss the fun?" He asked. Kitsune noted her scroll going off, but the vibrations must have been just enough as the attacker looked away from the captain and directly at her. "Who do we have here?" He pulled her in quickly with the sand and her partner tried to stop him but was ignored as his metal arm was batted away with the cartoonishly large weapon. He snatched her arm up as she slid into his body, breathing heavily in her face as he squeezed tightly at her wrist and forced the scroll away, crushing it as he dropped her and caught it in midair. He looked at her, blocking another blow from the captain and sinking him into the earth. "I'm guessing you're only trapped now because your ability is exhausting and you've already played your trump card."  
"Do I know you?" Kitsune asked, at the very least hoping to distract him for a moment. The brute turned his attention to her now and gave a wicked smile that made her feel a bit nauseous.

"My reputation precedes me," he said satisfied. "I was pretty big in Mistral when you were a child. Went by the moniker Quake." Now Kitsune remembered him. The man had terrorized Haven for months on end until one of the members of the police force was able to put him away. He wasn't to be taken lightly, but Kitsune was relatively sure that she could take him. She smiled seductively, draped her tail over her shoulder, and looked up at him.

"Then this is the chance that I need," she told him. She walked her fingers up his chest and looked him deep in the eyes. "The moment that I've been waiting for." She glanced at the captain and gave him a chuckle as she looked back at Quake and circled him, her tail brushing his neck. "These Atlas military members forced me into this position. I didn't want to help them, but they said that they'd do horrible things to me if I didn't." She placed a hand on his shoulder and he glanced back at her. "Let me join you. I think we could do great things together if you know what I mean." He smirked and the captain struggled.

"Kitsune! What are you doing!?" He shouted out. She laughed as she walked around to the front of him and rubbed her hands across his chest. Hopefully this works and hopefully, Winter finds Admon.

"Why don't we exchange a display of loyalty?" She asked. Quake chuckled as she moved in.

"What did you have in mind?" Quake asked. She pulled him in for a kiss, holding him firmly in place as she maintained locking lips and she could feel his body relax. Foolish on his behalf, but part of her semblance was the ability to trigger hormones that would render her opponent 'needy', for lack of a better word. Slowly she drained his aura and he tried to break free but the officer had become sand once more, leaping from the ground behind Quake and choking him out as Kitsune continued her assault. She released the kiss as Quake fell to his knees from lack of oxygen and she brushed herself off, looking back at her men.

"We need to find the Faunus!" She told them.

* * *

Winter stopped just short of the village that was hidden in the oasis in the midst of the desert as she left her chain of glyphs and could hear a relatively loud commotion coming from beyond the thin tree line. She entered in, shrapnel and large bits of metal glancing off of a glyph that she quickly opened but it was shattered a moment later by Admon who was riding a mechanical Beowulf. The machine roared as Winter was thrown back, she managed to land on her feet and used a glyph to stop herself quickly. She leapt up, forming a glyph in front of her at an angle and jumped off, giving herself some distance. She slid to a stop as the Beowulf reared and howled, Admon chuckling from the top.

"I'm surprised that you knew about this place," Admon told her. She gripped her sword and pointed it, staring down the blade at him.

"I could say the same about you, only the inhabitants know about it," Winter told him. Admon shrugged with an evil smile.

"Someone must have let it slip," he replied. "But let's discuss why you're really here…" The look on his face said everything and Winter knew that she had to stop him. She set her feet and Admon aimed his rifle, letting the beast charge at her. In a blink, she had created multiple glyphs and she took off, slicing through the mech several times before it stopped and turned back around to target her once more. Its armor was strong. Admon's shot had missed, striking harmlessly into the dirt. He hadn't expected her to be so fast. The Beowulf took a wide turn and Winter stuck her blade into the sand below her.

A large glyph opened and spun beneath her, two Beowulves were summoned and chased after Admon's. Winter once again opened a series glyphs as Admon attempted to dispatch her minions. Winter flew through her attack, landing several hits on the beast again but reserving the last for Admon. He flew from his mount, crashing through a black glyph and exiting a white one on the opposite side with absurd speed. He crashed into a tree and groaned as his aura took a visible hit. He found his feet as his body peeled off of the trunk and he dropped to the ground. Winter kept her distance, but detached her rapier, holding both blades as she watched him cautiously.

"I'm impressed," he said. "You must really want that stone." Winter froze for a moment. So he did know. He fired off a few shots while she was distracted, but she blocked them with her sword without even looking up. Admon's face filled with frustration and she smirked at him.

"I don't think you can win this battle," she told him. "You better stick to picking on kids." Admon became even more pissed off and fired repeatedly, each bullet knocked away as she grew closer and closer, her summons pinning the mech behind her. Her smile grew unnerving for him and he swapped spots with her, holding her swords in his hands as she acknowledged his rifle. She examined it, noting the fingerprint identification technology and tossed it away.

"No weapon at all? That's a bold move," Admon said thinking he had turned the tables. Winter removed a pistol from her belt on her back and looked down the sight. Admon laughed. "You can't be serious. You don't actually think that you can take me down with that, do you?" A small glyph spun at the end of the barrel and Winter took a step onto a time dilation glyph behind her. After a long moment, she shot forward, her gun against his chest before he could react and she fired, the ice glyph causing her bullet to freeze him and he stumbled back.

"You don't want Titus to think he has to do it on his own because it'll make him stronger," Winter told Admon. He dropped her weapons and his breathing was labored as he tried to get rid of the ice. "You just want him to be alone so that you can kill him. I don't know what you have against that kid, but I think it's going to be your undoing." Admon shook his head and grinned.

"You don't see anyone here to help me," Admon told her. "I really believe that if he can't get by on his own, someone is going to end his life prematurely," Admon smirked. "And if it happens to be me, then I guess we can just consider it a win-win." He shook the ice off and swapped spots with her, sprinting back for his gun and grabbing it up before removing his scroll. He disappeared and in his place was left one of his men, shocked and confused. Winter understood that he must have used the camera in one of their helmets to look at his eyes on his scroll, but she didn't know previously that he was capable of something like that. She'd call Kitsune and tell her to look for him, no doubt he was weakened.

"Dial Kitsune," she told her scroll as she walked away from the soldier that had defected and she headed into the village, looking for the spot on Ozpin's hologram that he had left the stone. The number just kept ringing and finally went to voicemail which prompted Winter to hang up and put her scroll away. Why wouldn't she answer? Winter was several hundred yards from her destination when she spotted the massive quarry and stopped, peering into it and rubbing her temple. If it was still there, Oum only knew where. The natives must have excavated as much Dust and metal that they could for their mechs.

"Leave." Came a voice to her right, a cat Faunus. It looked at her sternly and didn't blink. Winter turned around, well aware that she outstayed her welcome. She needed to prevent any hostile actions. They couldn't afford a Faunus uprising. She ran back to the port, she found that Kitsune had rescued the people and chased out Admon's men. Winter met with Kitsune and pointed the men back to the ship as Ghira joined them.

"Why didn't you answer when I called before?" Winter asked. Kitsune rubbed the back of her head.

"It's a… funny story?" Kitsune told her.

"Okay?" Winter asked.

"Do you remember the villain Quake? He was large in Mistral when I was a child," Kitsune informed her. Winter nodded. "The men returned to where I left him on the beach, but Admon must have taken him with when he teleported back.

"Of course I remember him," Winter replied as she stared into the distance. "Another one of Alexander's captures?"

"Something wrong?" Kitsune asked. Winter waved her off.

"I'll tell you later," Winter told her. She turned to Ghira. "Is everyone alright?"

"Everyone's fine," Ghira told her. "I'm sorry that it's come to this. I know how bad the rest of Remnant needs our Dust, but if the Dust Company stays, I fear that the people will grow violent." Ghira looked at Winter with soft eyes. "I don't want people to fear us again, Winter. For the sake of my people here, and my family in Vale." Winter nodded.

"I understand Ghira," Winter replied. "Times will be tough for a while, but worse if we go to war with the Faunus again." Winter gave him a nod and began walking away before Kitsune was aware of her doing so.

"It was nice meeting you!" Kitsune called to Ghira as she chased after Winter.

"How many casualties?" Winter asked her as they strolled back to the coast.

"It's not an official count, but it seems to be close to forty," Kitsune replied. Winter ground her teeth. Nearly half of the men that they'd brought. "If I might ask, why did we not bring Titus along? I saw what he's capable of, it would have come in handy." Winter tried not to smirk as she straightened her posture and added an air of confidence to her walk.

"With that said, we should have also brought Natalia," Winter told her. Kitsune stared at her for a moment and blushed, looking away.

"I've only seen Titus in action, I haven't seen Ms. Ironwood fight yet," Kitsune replied fidgeting her fingers. "I think that your speculation is improper." Winter smiled.

"There's nothing wrong with having a crush Ms. Aka," Winter informed her. Kitsune stammered and waved her arms.

"It's not like that!" Kitsune exclaimed blushing harder. "I mean sure he's strong, and tall, and dreamy… but I think that dating a coworker would be inappropriate!" Winter shrugged.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it," Winter said. "And you're right, he is dreamy." Kitsune groaned.

"I just want him to like me for who I am," Kitsune said. "Not because of my semblance." Winter looked at her.

"It's a noble desire, but I think that he's more focused on schoolwork… and someone else…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it seems that the stone might already be gone, but if that's the case, where is it? Next week, Eliana has something pressing to tell Neela in Chapter 60 - Announcement!
> 
> A big thank you to Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
> 
> Until next week, stay classy!

**Author's Note:**

> [Click here to see the art!](https://www.deviantart.com/silent-celica/favourites/71533661/NITE-A-Beacon-Story)


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